Sixteen years, sixteen tears
by Ezmee
Summary: It's all about Rogue, and her getting some pretty impressive powers, Yay! R/R, gets very anti-Xavier, and a bit anti-Jean as well.
1. In which Rogue has a birthday she would ...

SIXTEEN  
  
Chapter One  
  
Beep Beep Beep.  
  
Rogue smacked the alarm with a brutal force as the beeping coursed through her head. She groaned and fell out of her bed, landing with an undignified clunk on the floor. It was at this moment Rogue opened her eyes, blearily taking in the scenery around her. Her warm bed, the large window that looked over the institute grounds, and the mass of clothing on the other side of the room that symbolised Kitty choosing what to wear for school that morning. Rogue groaned again, and picked herself up off the floor, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  
  
It was only as she was getting into the shower that she realised what day it was, her sixteenth birthday. She wrapped a towel round her, muttering to herself.  
  
`Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me'. The words were half hearted, sounding flat and dull. Rogue didn't like birthdays, she hated to be the centre of attention, and had absolutely no idea how to respond to so many people around her, wishing her good things and grinning like idiots. She threw on her usual clothes, pulling down her top so that it covered every last inch of her body, and plastered her dark makeup on her face, eager to hide away her true self from the world. She descended the stairs of the Xavier Mansion like someone going to a funeral. This would not be a good day.  
  
Kitty and Jean were in the kitchen, sipping glasses of orange juice whilst being careful not to smudge their makeup. Rogue steeled herself for the shrieks and screams that were to follow from the two girls, but surprisingly enough, none came. Her companions just smiled as she came in, and then continued with what they were doing. Rogue raised her eyebrows a little bit; maybe Xavier had told them that she didn't like people making a fuss on her birthday.  
  
She picked up a breakfast bar to eat on the way to school, being that she really wasn't that hungry. She went to pick up her school things, and ran into Scott on her way up the stairs. He looked her up and down, and grinned at her in a friendly manner, as tiny little spots of pink touched Rogues normally pale skin.  
  
`Hey Rogue, we're leaving in about ten minutes, I've just got to talk to the professor about something, ok?' and he turned around and fled down the stairs, leaving Rogue in a state of bewilderment. Nobody had said anything to her, perhaps they didn't know it was her birthday, or maybe they'd forgotten. She picked up her bag, all the while telling herself that this was a good thing, and she ran down the stairs to catch a ride to school with Scott.  
  
By the time the red convertible pulled to a stop, Rogue was convinced that one of the two reasons she'd thought about really was true, because not one of the X-men had bought up the fact that she turned sixteen today. Even though she hated the attention that birthdays usually bought, Rogue was a little bit hurt about this fact by the time they arrived at school. She wasn't about to remind them though, that would be so sad.  
  
She rolled her eyes as she saw who had pulled up next to them. Lance Alvers and the rest of the Brotherhood were currently climbing out of the car. Lance looked up and met Scott's eyes, and a smirk began to spread across his face. He leant on the edge of the car, and called over to them.  
  
`Morning Summers, taking care of the x-geeks are we?' he hooted, and then he noticed Kitty climbing out from the car.  
  
`Excluding you of course, pretty Kitty!' Lance grinned, and Kitty giggled, earning herself a glare from Scott. She ducked her head and started to go into the building, the smile still clear on her lips. Kurt moved to follow her, and Tabitha stepped out of Lances shadow to run after him, her blond hair bouncing with every step.  
  
Scott started to close the distance between himself and Lance, the glint of his red sunglasses showing the hate that was radiating from beneath them. Rogue rolled her eyes and walked away, making her way towards the lockers. She had no particular wish to see the battle of testosterone that morning, even if Scott did look particularly good when he was mad.  
  
It was as she was putting her books into her locker that she noticed something odd, a little piece of folded up paper fell out of her bag. She bent down to pick it up, her expression one of curiosity. Still crouched on the ground, she read the hastily scrawled note.  
  
I need your help, please meet me by the maths room after school, come alone.  
  
Rogue was even more mystified. The handwriting was familiar, yet she just couldn't place it. So caught up was she in her thoughts, that she jumped a mile when somebody tapped her on the shoulder from behind.  
  
`Risty!' she cried, `don't do that!' she almost collapsed with relief as she saw her friend standing above her. Risty smiled and helped her to her feet. The two made their way to class.  
  
`So,' Risty said. `How are you, you feeling all right?' the question startled Rogue a little bit, did she look sick?  
  
`Ah'm fine, thanks.' She said, sounding a little colder than she'd meant to. Risty gave her a look, and excuse herself, saying that she had to see a teacher before class. As her friend disappeared into a classroom, Rogue sighed in frustration.  
  
`Great, yet another person who forgot my birthday'. She stormed down the hall, throwing angry looks at those who were watching her.  
  
Behind the doorway, Risty morphed into Mystique, and spoke softly to herself.  
  
`Not everyone has forgotten Rogue, me especially. Very soon, you are going to be very very hard to ignore.' And she grinned to herself.  
  
By the end of the day, Rogue had gone from slightly depressed, to completely fed up. It seemed that nobody cared enough to recognise her sixteenth birthday. She remembered the note that she had received that morning, and angrily stomped her way to the maths department, throwing herself against the wall in frustration. Pretty soon, the entire hall way had cleared out, and she was alone, thinking to herself that the note must have been a really pointless joke.  
  
`Psssst' came a voice, soft and insistent, she rounded the corner, and found herself staring at the last person she expected to be there.  
  
`Pietro Maximoff, what the hell da you want?' she asked, indignantly. She had barely spoken to him whilst she had been a member of the brotherhood, and had no idea what he could possibly need her help for.  
  
`Hey Roguey, I need a teeny tiny favour.' He said, speaking slowly so she could understand, his white hair glinting in the dying sun.  
  
Rogue crossed her arms and tilted her head, looking sceptical.  
  
`Ah'm listenin'  
  
Pietro walked forward, looking a little bit hesitant, which was an extraordinary feeling for the over confident speed demon.  
  
`I, um, Ineedyoutoteachmehowtocook'. He said, blushing a tiny bit.  
  
It took Rogue about one second before she started to laugh hysterically, rolling on the floor. Pietro sighed, and continued.  
  
`I signed up to the cookery class to, well you know, be in a class full of girls. But the thing is, they actually expect you to do cookery in there, and I don't do cookery. And I was thinking, you used to cook all the things when you were, well with us, and they were pretty good. So can you teach me, or give me some recipes or something. Please.' He finished, looking pleading. He gave her blatant puppy eyes, and Rogue stopped laughing, sighing in exasperation.  
  
`All right, speedy, Ah'll give ya lessons, just don't tell anyone, ok?' she said, putting a hand on her hip. Pietro ran forward, pretending to kiss her hands over and over again.  
  
`thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou' he said, ridiculously fast. Rogue pushed him away half heartedly, and began to walk away.  
  
`Hey Rogue' Pietro shouted. She turned round, wondering what he could possibly want now.  
  
`Happy Birthday'.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: So, what do you think? And should I make this Rogue/Pietro, or Rogue/Scott? It's your choice! 


	2. In which you learn that a speed demon ju...

Chapter 2  
  
Rouge flung open the door to the institute a couple of hours later. She guessed now that the x-men must have planned her a surprise birthday party or something, because they'd taken off without her after school, which just wasn't like the usually responsible Scott and Jean. Looking around the entrance hall, Rogue couldn't see or hear anything, so she assumed that the rest of her teammates were lurking in one of the rooms, probably under a banner to wish her happy birthday. Well, she would just make them wait for what they'd put her through today. She began to flounce off towards the kitchen, when Evan came running out, a bag slung over his shoulder and a glass of milk in his hand.  
  
`Whoopsee, sorry Rogue' he said, giving her a quick smile before racing off to the doorway, where Scott and Jean were waiting for him.  
  
`Hurry up Evan, we don't wanna miss the movie do we?' Jean said, leaning to the side slightly and putting a hand on her hips. Rogue rushed forward.  
  
`Are y'all just goin out? Without tellin' me?' she hissed, prodding Evan in the chest for good measure. She was absolutely livid.  
  
Scott ran a hand through his hair, unsure of what exactly was going on. `Well, you didn't show up after school, and we all decided to go and catch a movie. We figured you wouldn't want to go' he said, trying to calm down the steaming Goth girl before him.  
  
Jean stepped forward, a concerned, motherly tone in her voice that made Rogue want to slap her. `Did somebody upset you Rogue, because I think that you may be taking out your own problems on others. Why don't you cool down, or maybe I could help' she said.  
  
Rogue was steaming. She stamped a foot heavily on the ground and screamed. `For gods sake psychic, you of all people should know that today is mah damn birthday.' With a final glare Rogue vanished up the stairs, leaving a group of guilty teammates in her wake.  
  
What they didn't see was what Rogue had been muttering to herself as she fled.  
  
`Don't let `em see you cry, don't let `em see you cry.' She repeated in a flat monotone. As soon as she shut the door to her room though, her defences broke down, and black streams of tears ran down her face, cracking the image of an untouchable girl and letting out the vulnerable girl that lay beneath. For as much as Rogue hated attention, as much as she wanted to pretend that she didn't care, what had happened today had hurt her. She had left her old teammates for these people, she was supposed to trust them, and none of them cared enough to find out anything about her. It hurt.  
  
She pulled herself up from the floor, and gazed into the mirror, wiping the streak of white from her face. She looked a mess, her make up was streaking, and her eyes were splotches of black and red, bloodshot from where she'd been rubbing them. The sight made Rogue realise why she hated crying so much. She hated for people to see what was under all that clothing and make up, because the closer they got to the real her, the harder it would be for her to turn away from them, to resist the desire of touch. And when she cried, that shell she had worked so hard to build up was broken, and people could take advantage of that to try and get closer to her. As long as she couldn't control her powers, that could not happen.  
  
Rogue wiped away the last of her tears with a tissue, and proceeded to scrub her entire face clean. The others had probably left by now, Jean, Scott and Evan would have told the others, and there would have been shocked little gasps. And sure they may have felt guilty, Kurt and Kitty may even have felt bed for her, but it wouldn't have stopped them going out and forgetting the unpleasantness, because that's what most her housemates saw her as; an unpleasant member of the group who one should be quite scared of. Even Scott thought that, even if he didn't show it, even if he didn't know it. That was what hurt the most.  
  
The only person to even acknowledge Rogues birthday was Pietro, which was just bizarre. They had barely spoken to each other whilst they had been together in the Brotherhood house, yet he knew more about her than any member of the X-men, her supposed `teammates'. She became even more resolved to help the white haired boy in his cookery classes, even if it was to impress girls.  
  
Rogue's thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Thinking it was Xavier, she padded across the carpet, ready to tell the old man in the kindest way possible, to but of her business.  
  
What she found when she opened the door, were a group of three sheepish looking teenagers. Kurt and Kitty stood side by side, the tail of the fuzzy blue elf swishing to and fro. And in front of them was Bobby, or `Iceman', a sweet kid who was new to the institute, and who had always gone out of his way to be nice to her.  
  
`What are ya doin here?' she asked suspiciously, and Bobby stepped forward, holding out something for her.  
  
`I'm sorry it's not very good, but we didn't have much time you see. None of us knew that it was your birthday today, and we're so sorry. So we decided to stay home and try and make it up to you.' He said all this whilst going more and more red, making Rogue give a reluctant smile. She looked down at the card that Bobby had placed in her hand. It was hastily made, drawn on with crayons and felt tip pens, but it looked wonderful to her.  
  
She turned back and walked into her room, beckoning for the others to follow.  
  
`Come on then, lets get us a little party goin!'  
  
`Come on Speedy, ya burnin it!' Rogue cried in frustration as Pietro dashed around the kitchen at lightning speed, trying his best to salvage what he could of the chicken curry that was currently producing a black kind of smoke from the pan.  
  
She then had to bite back a giggle as quicksilver set fire to his apron whilst desperately trying to save his cooking. A few seconds later, he was standing in the midst of a black smoke cloud, with a rather rude shape burned through the front of his apron. The two teens both looked at it for around three seconds, before bursting into fits of hysterical laughter. This was the fifth lesson that they had had, and Pietro, if anything, had gotten worse. So far he had murdered pancakes, and omelette, a chocolate cake, a fruit salad, and the curry. Rogue was beside herself.  
  
It wasn't as if it were an awful thing for her to do. She'd found out in the last few weeks that Pietro was actually quite good company to be around. He was funny, if slightly egocentric, and his culinary disasters always proved to be good fun. But beneath it all, she sensed that there was something else, a darkness that she'd only ever seen before when she had glanced in the mirror at her own reflection.  
  
`This is stupid.' Pietro cried, flinging the apron on the ground and jumping up and down on it. `I'm supposed to be good at everything, why, oh why can I not cook??'  
  
Rogue shook her head. There were also times when the speed demon could be a bit of a prick.  
  
`Look Pietro, ya're not throwin yaself inta it. Ya need ta have a passion for it, ta enjoy what ya makin, and believe it will work.' She blushed when she realised that she'd said all that about cooking.  
  
`Is it me,' Pietro said, amusement clear in his voice, `or is the ice queen actually beginning to thaw a bit.'  
  
Rogue chucked a tea towel at him, and he began to clear up the latest catastrophe, grinning all the time. Then he looked thoughtful for a moment, and spoke again.  
  
`Rogue, can I ask you a question?' he said, a little bit tentatively.  
  
Oh god, Rogue thought to herself, he's going to ask me about leaving, he's going to want to know why I joined the X-men. I can't say it was because of Scott, that is so embarrassing. Besides, she was over Scotty boy now. Completely. Totally. Well, definitely a bit.  
  
`Why do you dress as a Goth?'. Pietro's question startled her completely, shocking her into giving an answer that was entirely truthful.  
  
`To tell ya the truth, if ah were to be able to control mah powers, I'd change mah look tomorrow. Ah guess its just a way of blockin people out, or scaring them away.' She laughed hollowly.  
  
`You don't scare me!' Pietro said, half joking, half serious. Rogue stared off into space for a moment before she spoke again.  
  
`Ah guess that people are already scared of me, of what ah can do. Guess ah'm just goin along with what they already think.'  
  
`Screw what people already think, just be yourself.'  
  
`Yeah' she said softly, `ah suppose you're right'. She picked up her things and walked silently from the room, leaving quicksilver alone with his thoughts.  
  
Rogue rounded the corner from the cookery room, and found herself staring into the face of Scott Summers, whose face was set into a grim line.  
  
`The games up Rogue, just what are you doing with Maximoff.' He said, trying to inject a sense of authority into his words. It didn't work; it only made her more defiant.  
  
`That is none of your business Scott.' She said, trying to walk away.  
  
`Are you going back to the brotherhood? Is that it? Are you going to abandon us?' he shouted, forcing her to wheel round angrily and face him.  
  
`No ah am not Scott. Ah don' care whose side Ah'm on, cuz in the end, all of us, even the Brotherhood, we're all mutants; we're all the same. So take the stick out your ass and come down to join the rest of the normal people. Who knows, if ya got ta know them, ya might like em.' She finished, waiting for his reaction. In truth she was rather shocked with herself, she hated the idea that he could inspire that much anger in her, and she didn't want to make him angry in return. She waited, a little nervously, to see what she would do.  
  
His face went several different shades, and his mouth twitched violently, finally splitting open into a grin.  
  
`Don't count on it! Look Rogue, I don't exactly agree with your opinion of the Brotherhood, but I also see where you're coming from. They are mutants, and I guess we should kind of look out for each other. And about the stick up the ass, well I think you're just spouting out popular opinion there.' He said, smiling easily, and Rogue wished she could see his eyes, so that she would know if the pain she heard there in his voice was reflected in them. As a wise man once said, the eyes are the window to the soul.  
  
`I just don't want to see you hurt, I care about you.' He smiled at her in a parental manner, and began to guide her towards the car.  
  
Not in the right way you don't. Rogue thought ruefully.  
  
`Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease' Pietro begged, getting down on both knees.  
  
`All right all right, ah'll make ya some damn cookies.' Rogue sighed. Pietro still had yet to make any progress with his cooking. She got a feeling he came to the lessons not to cook, but just to muck about and hang out with her, a thought that wasn't in any way displeasing to Rogue. She had taken his advice, and had started to show people her true features. The clothes were still the same, but she now wore far less make up on her face, and the effect was astounding. People now swore that she was new to Bayville; such was the change in her appearance. Rouge hadn't morphed entirely; she still retained her iciness, and aloofness. And to her eternal torment, the guys of Bayville High seemed to find it attractive. She now received wolf whistles as she walked down the halls that made her want to bury her head in shame. Risty had been having a field day with it.  
  
When she had come into the cookery room that day, Pietro had done a double take, before walking right up to her, so that they were almost touching. He had then leant forward, and whispered in her ear.  
  
`God how I wish you could touch.' Rogue's fatal skin had glowed scarlet, mainly with pleasure, though she refused to admit it. There was still the problem of a certain shade wearing senior, whom she had noticed with disappointment didn't find her new look quite as amazing as the other guys did.  
  
Now, as she began to form the cookie dough into neat little rounds, she found herself looking across the room at Pietro, who was finishing off the bag of chocolate chips. His face was alive with pleasure, and the sun was catching little glittering strands of white in his hair. Rogue couldn't help it, she found herself sighing.  
  
This caused Pietro to look up sharply, which in turn sent Rogues head slamming into the oven door she was opening. The speed demon rushed over to her, and helped her stand properly, before depositing the tray of delicious looking cookies in the oven. He looked up into her face, and immediately spotted the glob of raw cookie dough in her white streak of hair. Tenderly, and without thinking, he reached forward and removed it, brushing her face where there was a bruise forming.  
  
He saw shock register on her face, and it was a good few second before he realised what had just happened. He had touched her, and nothing had happened.  
  
`Ah, ah, ah' Rogue began to stammer, as if she didn't quite believe it was true. She didn't finish her sentence though, as she collapsed immediately, falling to the floor on a heap. Pietro ran to her, picking her up in his arms as if she were nothing, pausing only for a moment to marvel at their actual touching. He ran with her outside the room, and saw help at the end of the corridor. He ran at full speed, not caring if anyone did see his powers.  
  
`Risty' he said as he came to a stop by Rogue's best friend. `Rogue collapsed, something's wrong with her, we have to get help!' he said, using every ounce of control to speak slowly. Risty looked shocked as she saw her friend, but then she sprung into action.  
  
`Pietro, go ring for help, I'll see if I can find out what's wrong with her.' Pietro didn't have time to argue, Rogue needed his help. He took off down the hallway at record-breaking speed. Only when he was gone, did Risty finally smile in triumph.  
  
`At last' she said quietly, the rapture evident in her voice. `It has happened.'  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: So, what did ya think?? Thanks for the comments, I've got the story pretty clear in my head now, and if you like it, I can do a sequel. It's gonna end up Rogue/Pietro, but I warn you, it will not be that simple for em! I do need another opinion though, just to pick your brains some more. Evil Jean, or just plain irritating Jean? Oh yeah, Scott won't be evil in this one, he'll be a bit of a pain in the ass, but he won't be evil. 


	3. In which something is revealed

Chapter 3  
  
It was several hours later when Rogue woke up, and she still wasn't quite with it. Glancing at her surroundings, she was surprised to notice three things. One that she was not at the institute, two, that her skin was glowing, and finally, that Mystique were standing in front of her. Rogue had no clue what was going on.  
  
She tried frantically to struggle against the ropes that were bounding her. Mystique ran forward and put a hand on her face to calm her down. Rogue shuddered at the skin-to-skin contact, revolted that her first real contact had been with Mystique.  
  
`Relax, my dear, it will all be over soon. Your ascension will be complete.' Mystique soothed, stroking her hair quite tenderly.  
  
Rogue couldn't ask what the hell she was talking about, for a second later she was consumed in a firebolt of pain. Light erupted from her body as the room exploded in her soul wrenching screams. Mystique backed away for a few minutes, scared of the sight before her. And then the light faded, and Rogue was lying limp on the table, having passed out again.  
  
Lance Alvers was strewn out comfortably on the battered old couch of the brotherhood living room, engaged in reading his magazine. He did not like to be interrupted.  
  
So naturally he was a little peeved when Pietro Maximoff came shooting into the living room and swept the magazine from his hands in the process.  
  
Lance stood up, furious. `Dammit Pietro, stop doing that in the house!' Pietro was still running round the house like a mad man, and Lance began to get a little worried. When he had done this before, Pietro usually stopped when he knew he had successfully irritated someone. But if anything, he was increasing in speed. Todd and Tabitha emerged from their rooms, to see what the trouble was, both looking in curiosity at Pietro's little speed display. Above them, the enormous pounding on the ceiling alerted them all to the fact that Fred was on his way down.  
  
Lance rolled his eyes, and resolved to put a sudden stop to his friend's antics. Pietro had probably had too much coffee again or something. His eyes flew to the back of his head, and Pietro flew to the floor as the ground began to shake. The Brotherhood ran over to him, Lance expecting to be yelled at.  
  
Instead, Pietro stood up, brushing dust from his clothes, and said. `Thanks man, I guess I just got a little out of control there.'  
  
`But what was it, Speedy? What caused you to go that hyper?' Tabby asked with a smirk on her face, imagining that the problem was rooted back to a girl.  
  
Remembering what it was that had brought him here seemed to send Pietro into a greater state of panic, as he began to talk at a million miles an hour.  
  
`Rogue,ohmygodsomethingiswrongwithRogueshewasgivingmecookerylessonsandweweregettingongreatandthenshetouchedmeandnothinghappened.'  
  
`Whoa,' Lance held his hand up, `She touched you?'  
  
`She gave you cookery lessons?' Todd asked, smirking. The ground shook a little as Fred joined the scene.  
  
`YesshetouchedmeanditwasgreatbutthenshecollapsedandIcarriedheroutsideandRistywasthereandIgavehertoRistythenwenttogethelpbutIcamebackandtheyhadbothgone.NowRogueisintroubleandshe'smissingandIDON'TKNOWWHATTODO!' He ended up yelling.  
  
There was a few moments silence as the Brotherhood made an attempt to work out just what it was that Pietro had said. Once they'd got the basic gist of it. Lance spoke.  
  
`Well it's obvious isn't it? We go and find her, and help her.' The rest of the Brotherhood nodded in agreement.  
  
`But, I thought,' Pietro stammered, `shouldn't we tell the X-men? I mean, they are her teammates.'  
  
`Not a chance.' Said Lance firmly; `I am not about to start getting buddy buddy with the X-men'  
  
`However, the X-women are a different matter.' Todd cracked, making Lance send a tiny tremor towards him. As the Toad toppled from the couch, Lance turned back to Pietro.  
  
`What I mean is, Rogue is still a part of our family. And besides, she isn't happy there, at the institute. We all know it, and she knows it too. She belongs with us, and we have to take care of her.'  
  
`Yeah,' Tabby nodded in agreement. `I mean, most the X-men are scared of her, and it's stupid. She's the coolest person in that dumb old mansion. With the exception of Blue boy of course!'  
  
Pietro still looked indecisive, so Lance finally latched on to an idea that would get him moving.  
  
`Look, Speedy, every moment we waste talking about this, is another moment that Rogue could be getting hurt in.'  
  
Lance blinked, and when he opened his eyes, Pietro had already begun to search. That was if the ripped off door to the house was anything to go by.  
  
At that moment, several people in the `dumb old mansion' were also out of their minds with worry.  
  
Kitty was pacing her bedroom, wringing her hands. She was beginning to make Kurt, who was sitting on the bed, a little dizzy.  
  
`Like, where could she be??' Kitty exclaimed, throwing herself down next to the Blue fuzzy elf. Kurt shrugged his shoulders, his usual smiling face creased in a frown of worry.  
  
At that point, Bobby, Scott, Evan and Jean all came into the room, having searched the grounds and surrounding area for any sign of Rogue. Bobby looked sick with worry, and Kitty motioned for him to come and sit by her. Scott spoke.  
  
`Well, there's absolutely no sign of her; I think it's time we alerted the professor, and started a full-blown search for her. She could be in big trouble.'  
  
Most of the X-men made a move to get up and leave the room, each agreeing whole-heartedly with Scott. Jean however, held up her hand to speak.  
  
`I don't think we need to go to those extremes just yet, I mean, this is Rogue we are talking about. She'd probably just out with her friends, or she needed some alone time. I don't think we need to bother looking for her just yet.' She said, smiling comfortingly at the rest of the group.  
  
It had no effect on calming them though, as Kurt stood up, furious. `Vhat are you talking about. Of course we need to search vor her. Are you crazy?!'  
  
Jean spoke slowly, as if reasoning with a wilful child. `I'm just saying, that maybe we should leave it for a little while before we all start to panic. I mean, wouldn't we all feel a little silly if we were all out frantically searching for Rogue, and then she walked through the door?'  
  
The rest of the room shook their heads in disbelief. And to Jeans shock, Scott spoke.  
  
`I don't agree with you Jean. I mean, Rogue is not so irresponsible that she wouldn't let us know that she was going out, if she decided it in school, she would have shown up at the car to tell us, but we haven't seen her at all. Besides, after the birthday incident, Rogue must feel like we don't care about her at all. I mean, she left the Brotherhood to join us, we should start treating her like the family member she is.'  
  
`Yeah Jean, Rogue has come to your rescue like, a million times or something.' Kitty said, for once in her life criticising the popular junior.  
  
`Right then' said Scott firmly, `that settles it. You guys suit up, and I'll go tell the professor.' They started to move out of the room, with Scott trying to ignore the glares that Jean was sending him. The two of them had always agreed when it had come to X-men decisions, and now Scott had overruled her. This was not supposed to happen.  
  
Then a voice echoed inside all their heads, and the teenagers listened to what Xavier had to say.  
  
It's all right Scott; I was listening to your conversation, and I completely agree with you. Something must have happened to Rogue. I'll send Wolverine out with you to help you find her, and possibly battle whatever you may face.  
  
The team nodded, having adapted long ago to the Professor adding his opinion by speaking in their heads. They all began to suit up. Jean paused on the way out of the room, narrowing her eyes slightly as she thought at the professor.  
  
I'm sorry, I did everything I could to stop them.  
  
Charles Xavier sat in his office, lost in his incredibly complex mind. He had just informed Wolverine of the situation, knowing that his fatherly affection for the girl would allow him to track her down. Not that it was really needed, for Xavier already knew exactly where Rogue was. She stood out like a beacon, owing to the incredible power that was now flowing through her. And that was why it was so important for the X-men to find her, before somebody else did. There was going to be a big change in Rogue, this worried Xavier slightly. If the prophecy were true, he would no longer be the most powerful mutant on the planet, assuming that Magneto had gone. He had told Jean that he worried for Rogue, that it was too much power for her to handle. But, if he were honest with himself, he would admit that he liked to be in control, he liked being the one who decided the outcome of the battle. And Rogue threatened all of that.  
  
But at least if she was at the institute, he could keep an eye on her, could try and stop her from fully realising her potential. He just hoped that whoever she was with now knew nothing of what the power was, for if the girl found out, she could learn to control it instantly. And then there would be trouble.  
  
For the first time in his life, Charles Xavier was afraid.  
  
Rogue awoke again, rubbing her temples and hoping to calm the massive headache that she had. She sat up, surprised to find that the restraints around her had been removed. Mystique was still there though, looking at Rogue with what resembled a proud smile on her face. Rogue tried bravely to ignore the pounding in her head, in order to find answers to the questions that she had.  
  
`All right Mystique, you can start talking now. Ah wanna know where the hell ah am, and what just happened. Then explain why you're here.'  
  
Mystique gave a little laugh, and shook her head, then leaned forward. `Better than that, I can show you. Stretch your mind out to mine, Rogue, come on, you can do it.'  
  
Against her better judgement, Rogue did as she said; so desperate was she to know what was going on. As she reached out to the older woman's mind, she felt a warm rush go through her body, followed by a flash of understanding. She was catapulted back through the decades, sifting through the memories in Mystiques mind, until she found what she was looking for.  
  
Rogue now stood in a room with three other people. None of them knew she was there, but she recognised all of them. There were two women. One was Mystique, the other was a woman called Irene, who had been her foster mother. And lying in a crib was none other than her, as a very young child. Yet even at that age, Rogue was pleased to see that she had the two streaks of white in her hair. She tore her eyes away from the much younger version of herself to listen into the conversation that the two women were having.  
  
`You're sure it's her destiny? You're sure she is the one?' Mystique asked breathlessly.  
  
`I'm quite sure of it Raven, this girl is the one. She is going to get power beyond her wildest dreams.' Irene, or destiny said.  
  
`Then I must take her with me now, we need to train her, ensure we have her loyalty.'  
  
Mystique was interrupted. `You can't, not until she has fully come into her powers. Once she is ready, this girl will be the most powerful mutant the world has ever known. You know nothing about this Raven, leave it to those who know what's going on.'  
  
`So inform me then' Mystique snapped, irritated at the patronizing tone in the other woman's voice.  
  
`She is the one. I know she is. I have foreseen it. She has in her the power of every single mutant in existence, and she can call upon these powers at any time she chooses. She also has the mind power and psychic ability of ten times more power than Xavier any other telepath or telechinetic put together. You see, the theory of gradual evolution in mutants is crap. Otherwise, we would all have developed the same powers, wouldn't we? Well many years ago. There was a first mutant born, a master mutant, capable of doing everything. But she fell in love, in love with a normal person. And their child was a mutant, but an everyday one, with only one particular power, because of the human blood that the child had in him. So the race of mutants was begun, with each one inheriting a different power from the original, master mutant. But it was prophesised that sometime, a child would be born that was made up of exactly the same genetic make up as the original mutant, and she would  
develop the power of that mutant, and of every other mutant on the planet.'  
  
`Then why must I wait to claim her?' Mystique exclaimed, impatient to find explanations.  
  
`Because Raven, her powers will not manifest fully until around her sixteenth birthday. Till then, whenever she touches someone, she will drain their life force, their strength. If she touches a mutant, she will briefly be able to call upon that particular mutants power, that is already inside of her. We must be careful with her. We must keep her sheltered, and avoid using her power. Because Xavier knows about the prophecy, he knows that it is this girl. And the moment she uses her powers, he will be able to find her. We cannot lose this girl to Xavier, she is the greatest asset imaginable.'  
  
Destiny took in the look on Mystiques face, and continued in a slightly more soothing tone.  
  
`Look Raven, once she reaches the age of sixteen, her powers should fully manifest, and she will be able to touch, because she won't need the life force of others to draw out her power. Then you can claim her, before Xavier gets to her. But you must go now, before he picks up your presence.'  
  
`Of course, I will go. Take care of her destiny, look after her properly, give her everything she needs.' Mystique bent down and spoke softly to the child in the crib. `Goodbye child, someday, you are going to outshine us all.' With that, Mystique shifted into a middle-aged woman, and left through the front door.  
  
But the flashback wasn't over; Rogue followed the woman out of the house, and got a look at her face before the scene began to fade to blackness. The Mystique in the flashback was crying.  
  
Present day reality swum into focus, and Rogue looked around her, seeing things more clearly than she had ever seen them before. She felt like somebody had just opened her eyes to what she was, and now she could take full advantage of that. She looked down at Mystique.  
  
`So, does that answer your question?' Mystique asked, anxious to see what Rogues reaction would be to this turn of events. She looked like she was waking up from a dream.  
  
`It all makes sense.' Rogue said wondrously. `And the power, ah know ah can control it all.'  
  
`Yes, Destiny prophesised that once you became fully aware of your power, you would be able to control it naturally.' Said Mystique, nodding. She smiled as Rogue finally became aware that she was in an abandoned ware house, and used her powers to lift up and trash a huge pile of machinery without straining herself at all.'  
  
`Ah can use it all, all the power, Ah can use It.' she said, as if she couldn't quite believe it.  
  
`Yes Rogue, you can, and I have something for you.' Mystique said, handing the girl a small box, from which Rogue lifted out a beautiful, sparkling pendant. She put it on without a second thought, enjoying the tingling sensation as the metal touched her skin.  
  
`It has an inner core of pure adamantium ore; it will allow you to find and use the mutant powers that you need more easily. Nobody else can touch it, because nobody has the power. It was a gift from your father.'  
  
`The prof knows? He knew all along? Why didn't he tell me?' Rogue asked feeling betrayed by the man that she respected so much.  
  
`I don't know, I have no idea what he is up to. Please Rogue, I warn you, be careful around Xavier. You are so much more powerful than him now, and he may resent that slightly. You can block him you know, just with a tiny thought you can ensure that he doesn't know what is going on inside your head, or that he can't hear any conversations you may be having with others. He knows this, and it probably scares him that he can't see what you are doing, or he can't control you.'  
  
Rogue looked up, one more question still lurking in her much more powerful mind. She asked it, relieved to not be thinking about the Professors motives for not telling her. `Mystique, why is it that ya care so much about what happens to me. Ah saw ya leaving the house that night, and ya were crying. Why do ya care?'  
  
Mystiques eyes misted over again. `Don't you know Rogue, why don't you read my mind?' she gave her a sad smile.  
  
Rogue reached out, and again lost herself in Mystiques memories. She found the woman looking over a cliff top. She guessed it was just after the Asteroid M incident, because Mystique had her newly mutated body. She had her arms sprawled out in the air, and Rogue realised that she was about to jump. Mystique teetered dangerously on the cliff edge, before finally falling backwards and landing on the ground in floods of tears. Rogue went closer, going right into Mystiques mind at that time, hearing her thoughts with crystal clarity.  
  
How did I lose everything? I had a family, and now it's all gone. It should have been Kurt, my little Rogue, all fighting together as a family with me. And I've lost them both now, forever. My babies, I've lost them both to Xavier. It will never be all right.  
  
Rogue left the crying woman on the cliff top and came back to the present, looking five times more stunned than she had when she'd found out about her powers. She had a family now. Kurt was her brother, and Mystique. Mystique was her mother.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Ta da! There is your explanation, if it's crap, it's crap, and I'm sorry. I promise to put more brotherhood, and a bit more romance into the next chapter okay? And I've gone for semi-evil Jean. What can I say, I don't like the girl. So sue me! He he, go Super Rogue! 


	4. In which two sides collide

Chapter 4  
  
Rogue stumbled backwards, as though she'd just been slapped round the face. Mystique was her mother, and she had never known. No, wait, she'd never told her. Anger and confusion began to simmer up inside of her, erupting to the surface as she pushed Mystique away blindly, and threw herself into a standing position. She faced her mother, gulping in the air around her, with a crazed look in her eyes.  
  
`You never told me. All that time, you could've told me ah was your daughter.' She cried, her voice thick with tears and frustration. Mystique realised that Rogue was beginning to let her new situation sink in, and attempted to stop her daughter lashing out at her.  
  
`I know I should have been there Rogue, and I am so very sorry. But I wasn't allowed. I couldn't tell you, he told me not to....'  
  
`Then you should have ignored him!' Rogue screamed, interrupting her. `You should have left him, and kept your family!' she was slightly crazed, she had no idea of what she felt for Mystique now that this information had come to light. A family, it was something that she'd always hoped for, and yet, Mystique had never told her, she had used her. And now she dropped this news on her. Two pieces of information that were going to change her life forever. Rogue was in shock, and Mystique was desperate.  
  
`Rogue, please. I know what I did was, unforgivable. But I want my daughter back, I want my family back. If you and Kurt could...'  
  
`No' said Rogue firmly, shocking her mother into silence. The look that crossed Mystiques face was one of utter despair, as her final hope of achieving her dream died in one word. Rogue softened her voice slightly as she continued.  
  
`What ah mean is, ah can't come with you at the moment. Ah have a life already. Ah need time to think about this, all of it. Ah need to get things clear in my head, before ah decide anything.' She said, willing Mystique to understand.  
  
`Of, of course' she whispered softly, more to herself than to Rogue. She opened her mouth to speak again, and was interrupted by a giant pounding on the door. Both looked up, and saw a dent appear in the solid metal of the entrance, signifying only one thing. Wolverine was here.  
  
`It's time for you to go back to them, Rogue, at least for a while. But if you ever need me, you or Kurt, I will be there. And please remember what I said about Xavier. You're stronger than him now. Don't let him control you.' Those were her last words before she transformed into a raven, and flew away out of one of the topmost windows of the factory. Rogue watched her go. Standing absolutely still, with an odd look on her face.  
  
She didn't do that for long though, as in a matter of seconds, the door had been sliced from its hinges, and the X-men came running through the door, all ready for battle. Rogue was amused to see that Scott looked slightly disappointed that there was no one to battle.  
  
She spoke too soon, because a couple of seconds after that, the Brotherhood burst through the door, also prepared to rescue her. She saw the X-men wheel round, and the look of malice and hate that crossed all her friends faces. Scott came forward and walked up to Avalanche.  
  
`What are you guys doing here? Heard that someone was torturing Rogue, and wanted to come join in?' He said, trying his very best to belittle the figures in front of him.  
  
Lance smirked. `Actually, we came to help our team member, and to bring her back.' He looked across at Rogue, and gave her a look to say that he meant what he said, that it hadn't been to just wind up Scott.  
  
`Forget it!' Scott shouted, glaring at him. `Rogue is ours, don't you remember? She left you!'  
  
`And she will come back!' Lance shouted back. He turned to Rogue and addressed her directly. `Because you are not happy there Rogue, you know that we were always your friends, your family. So you have to come back with us. You belong with us.'  
  
Rogue was caught up with emotion, and was about to nod as a yes, before she thought back to what Lance had said. And then she knew, that before she could make a decision about anything, she had to sort things out with Kurt, her brother. But what Lance said was true, and she couldn't let the Brotherhood think that she didn't care. She opened her mouth to speak, but Scott cut her off.  
  
`We've done more for Rogue than you ever could' he said, folding his arms across his chest. Jean stepped into the fray, adding as ever, her own unique opinion.  
  
`That's right. We've shown her how to use her powers for good, how to...'  
  
`No you haven't, you don't know anything about her. All you've done is hold her back, and keep her down.' Pietro said, stepping in front of Lance.  
  
`You wanna say that again bub' Wolverine growled, claws coming out of his hand again.  
  
`Rogue is coming with us.' Pietro said firmly, even though his eyes betrayed his fear at taking on all the X-men. Rogue wanted to thank him, but didn't quite see it as a good idea at that moment, being that it would cause even more tension between the rival groups of mutants. She could see that Kitty, Kurt and Bobby looked unsure of what to do, and she felt bad at them. No matter how unhappy she was at the institute, those three were still her friends. True Jean was a pain, and Scott, well, she didn't know what Scott was at that moment. But these were her friends, and she hated having to choose between them and the Brotherhood.  
  
They were doing a pretty god job of choosing for her though. She saw Lance and Scott squaring up to each other, and realised that a fight was going to brew between the two of them. She appreciated Scott's protectiveness, and the family togetherness that she and the Brotherhood. Therefore it killed her to see the two sides fighting over her.  
  
It was Pietro that started the fight. Scott felt something, and turned round to see the in around 1 second Pietro had managed to give him the biggest wedgie that Bayville High had ever seen. Unfortunately for Pietro, Scott did not see this as particularly funny, and immediately fired a shot off at the Brotherhood.  
  
About five seconds later, total chaos has taken over in the old factory. Scott's shot had hit blob, sending him back a couple of centimetres. Avalanche took advantage of that to send a small tremor in the direction of the X-men, knocking most of them off their feet. This was all the invitation that Wolverine needed to get involved, going after Blob whilst shouting instructions at the others. Jean was busy trying to occupy the toad, and Avalanche was surveying the damage that his little earthquake had done. He felt a jolt of regret when he saw that Kitty had been knocked over, and ran over to move her out of the way of the fighting.  
  
`My hero!' she sighed as she was carried along in his arms. `Wait, you made me fall, does that make you like, my villain.'  
  
Lance rolled his eyes and kissed her on the nose before sitting her down, making Kitty blush and giggle so much that she was removed from the fighting altogether.  
  
Kurt was trying to figure out a way to help out his time, and found himself face to face with Tabby, grinning as she got ready to fight. Kurt's eyes widened as she got ready to chuck her bomb at him, and ducked to try and dodge the blow, and found that she had boomed it off the wall instead.  
  
`Ah blue' she sighed, shrugging her shoulders. `I could never hurt you, you're just too damn cute.'  
  
Kurt grinned, and ported over to her. There was more than one way to take care of an opposing team member.  
  
Scott watched the activities of his team with veiled disgust. Honestly, they were supposed to be fighting the enemy, not, well, doing that with them. The way that they were behaving, it wouldn't surprise Scott if more of his team were snatched up by the Brotherhood. Didn't they see that Lance and Tabitha were only like that to try and win them to their side?  
  
He watched as Quicksilver made his way towards Rogue, who was watching the scene with a look of horror on her face. Now they were out to steal her away from the team too. Well, Scott would not let that happen. He would not let them take his Rogue. Well, he amended, the teams Rogue.  
  
He fired a well-aimed blast, and Quicksilver was knocked off of his feet. He moved over him, and prepared to strike the final blow. Unfortunately, he was a little too slow in his preparation, and Pietro got to his feet, running round behind Cyclops and pushing him to the floor.  
  
Rogue couldn't take anymore of her friends fighting. She stepped right into the middle of them all, hopefully shocking them into stopping. She held her arms up in the air, and shouted `Stop!'  
  
And then she looked at around in shock, because everyone had frozen in place, not making any form of movement whatsoever. Rogue had frozen every single one of them, just by thinking about it. The full force of her power sunk in, and Rogue sank to the floor with heaving gasps. It always happened to her, she couldn't escape that fact that she would never be normal. And with the realisation came a sense of something that Rogue just couldn't put her finger on yet. It was almost like something inside of her had been altered beyond recognition, yet she had no idea of what it was.  
  
Well, at least she could have them all listen to her now. Rogue faced them all, looking each of her frozen companions in the eye before she spoke.  
  
`Right, now that you've stopped trying to tear each other to pieces I think I might be able to tell you exactly what's going on. I can touch now, I have some, well, new and different powers, one of which you are experiencing at the moment. I'll tell you all about it later, but there's a couple of things I've gotta say.'  
  
She walked up to the X-men, particularly to Scott. `Lance is right, I'm not happy at the institute. I don't know if that is going to change, but I guess I have to go back with you guys for a while, so I can sort out some things with some people. Especially you Kurt. I was told something while I was here, and I need to talk to you about it. I know that I have friends in the X-men, and you all came through for me today. But the Brotherhood have always been there, have always sort of been my family. I just need to get everything sorted out before I decide anything.'  
  
She walked over to Lance. `You do understand don't you? I mean, I know that you are all my friends, and hey, maybe someday I'll come back. But there are things that I have to do first. Thank you Lance, thank you for being there for me, all of you. I love you.'  
  
She turned, and finally approached Pietro. `Hey there Speedy, thanks for rescuing me, well, trying to rescue me. Even if you can't cook, you're still, well, you're still something that I don't wanna say right now. See you around the kitchen some time.' She began to walk away, calling. `I'm going for a little walk right now. Don't worry, I'll let you all go in a few moments, and I'll be back at the institute. So just stop fighting and go back, all of you. It's not worth it.'  
  
She waited until she was outside the factory before she let them go, and then she continued to walk slowly away. She made it about two steps before someone tapped her on the shoulder. She wheeled round to see Pietro standing there.  
  
`I accept what you said, and we'll give you time. But I was the first to touch you, and I wanted to be the first to do this.' He said, before leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips.  
  
A bolt of electricity shot through Rogue that had nothing to do with absorbing powers. Pietro broke the kiss, grinned, and ran away, leaving her slightly breathless, with a blush tinting her skin. She walked on, fighting to keep the grin off her face, when Xavier's voice echoed in her head.  
  
You know then Rogue?   
  
Yes I know, why didn't you tell me? She said, Mystiques warning ringing in her ears.  
  
I thought it might be damaging   
  
No you didn't, you didn't want me to find out, because you didn't want me to be that powerful. You can't control something that powerful. She said, having reached into his mind and pulled out his feelings.  
  
Rogue, I know you are powerful now. But you must allow me to help you.   
  
No, I trusted you, and you broke that trust. Now the only person to have control over my mind will be me. And with that she slammed to door of her mind to Xavier, and knew that he would not be able to intrude it again.  
  
She had reached the centre of town now, with the mall in viewing distance. Rogue remembered what Pietro had said to her, about hiding behind her Goth image. She reached into her purse and took out a charge card, before heading purposefully down the road to the mall. Well, if she could touch now, maybe it was time that she showed a little more skin....  
  
Charles Xavier felt the break of connection between him and Rogue echo through his mind. The worst had happened, Rogue knew about, and could control her power. He leaned back in his chair. Something had to be done about this. He would not allow himself to lose control. Rogue would now have to go.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: There you go, sorry about Rogues accent; can you all just pretend for me that I can do accents?? Oh yeah, somebody pointed out something in the last chapter, about the genetic makeup. Yes, you are absolutely right, and I am absolutely stupid. The story has been modified, and I have hung my head in shame. And to think I only did genetics in science a couple of weeks ago. Tiredness, I blame it all on tiredness. Anyways, cheers for reviewing, see you next chapter! 


	5. In which the professor begins to make pl...

Chapter Five  
  
'Where the hell is she?' Scott Summers said, rubbing his hands and pacing the entrance hall of the mansion repeatedly. Jean had tried earlier to console him, but had long since given up and left to phone Duncan about their date that Friday.   
  
Kitty, Kurt and Bobby were all sitting down against the wall, slightly less active than Scott yet still just as worried. It had been hours since Rogue had left them all standing stock still in the factory. When they could move again, it was to discover that Quicksilver had in fact vanished along with Rogue. This fact annoyed Scott beyond belief, though nobody could work out why.   
  
After they got back to the institute, they found the Professor waiting for them. He had explained just what was happening with Rogue, and that she could now touch. He said that she had informed him of the situation after leaving the scene, before leaving them all absolutely flabbergasted. Every time one of the X-men thought of the power that Rogue now possessed, they found it impossible to accept it.   
  
Jeez, Kitty thought to herself, no wonder she took off like that.   
  
Scott was beginning to look fairly panicked, so Bobby took a stab at trying to make him feel a little better. 'Hey Scott, it isn't your fault she left, you know. She'll be back'.   
  
Scott gave a small smile to the new recruit, though secretly he was shouting at him. Of course this situation was his fault, as the team leader he shouldn't have taken Rogue for granted, and started that fight with the Brotherhood. But how could he even begin to make things right if she never came back?  
  
Scott was shaken from his thoughts by the sight of Rogue entering through the doorway, with a fairly sheepish smile on her make up less face. The four figures in the room immediately stood to see if she was hurt, or in trouble, or had an explanation for why she had been gone for hours.  
  
Then they noticed the large number of bags that were in Rogues hands, and every single jaw in the room dropped to the floor.   
  
Rogue blushed a little, and looked at the floor. 'Um, I know this may sound a little hard to believe. But I was shopping and I lost track of time.'   
  
The jaws of her teammates dropped even lower. 'You lost track of time because you were shopping?' Scott repeated, looking utterly bewildered.  
  
'You were shopping at a time like this?' Bobby asked incredulously.  
  
'You were actually shopping?' Kitty said, sounding as if you could poke her in the shoulder and she would faint.   
  
Rogue shot her a death glare. 'Yes I was. It's gonna take me some time to come to grips with all this new power, and I kind of wanted to take advantage of it all to you know, change my image. Let people see the real me.'   
  
'Oh' Kitty squealed. 'This is gonna be like, so fun! A make over on Rogue!'   
  
'Not so fast Pryde.' Rogue said, a slight tone of warning creeping into her voice. 'This is still me, just a little more uncovered, that's all.'   
  
'And I think we can all be happy with that!' Kurt said, grinning and winking in her direction.   
  
This made Rogue laugh so hard, that it left the other X-men a little confused. She realised that this was as good a time as any to have a little talk with Kurt.   
  
'That reminds me fuzz ball, you and me need to have that talk I mentioned earlier. Care for a walk?' she said, heading for the door again. Kurt shrugged his shoulders at the rest before bounding after her.  
  
'Wait Rogue.' Scott called after her, 'don't you want to talk to the Professor and the others before you go?'   
  
Rogue turned around, an odd note in her voice. 'No thanks Scott, I'm sure the Prof knows that I'm back by now, I'll do it later.' She then marched out the mansion with Kurt in tow.  
  
'Well' said Kitty, interrupting the silence that had suddenly filled the room. 'At least she's back'.  
  
  
Rogue walked for about five minutes in silence, and somehow Kurt didn't think it appropriate for him to start the conversation. The two of them came to a stop at a tree in the grounds that was pretty unknown to every X-man except for Rogue. She motioned for Kurt to sit down next to her, leaning against the bark of the old tree and lifting her face to embrace the late afternoon sunshine that was streaming down on them. She then faced her unknowing brother, unsure of exactly what to say to him.  
  
'Look Kurt, there's something really important that I've got to tell you, and it's about Mystique. She's the one who told me about my powers today, she left before you all came.'  
  
'Wait,' Kurt said, a seriousness in his eyes that was rarely shown to others. 'I think I know what this is about, is it about Mystique being my mother? Did she tell you that she was being serious or that she just made it all up to throw me?' he asked, the intensity of his voice startling her.   
  
'It's true Kurt, she is your mother, but there's something else too, something that she showed me.' Rogue said. 'And it involves both of us.' She wondered if he'd work it out from that.  
  
'What is it?' he said softly, sensing her discomfort.  
  
'Kurt, Mystique isn't just your mother, she's mine too.' Rogue said, dreading what the response would be. She wanted for Kurt to accept her as a sister so badly, yet she knew that he wasn't exactly happy about the family he had already uncovered.   
  
'So I have a little sister?' He said, as though the words sounded strange and new to him.  
  
'Erm yeah, I'm sorry for dumping all this on you, if you really regret it, I can always change your memory for you, nobody would have to know.' She said, bowing her head so he wouldn't see the crushed expression on her face.  
  
He looked at her like she was absolutely crazy.   
  
'I mean, do you regret it? I know that finding out Mystique was your mother had to be bad, but surely I can't be that bad, can I?' laughed slightly, then caught her breath in surprise as Kurt swept her into a giant hug.  
  
'Are you kidding me?' he said, his fuzzy blue fur brushing against her face. 'The only thing that I regret is having gone for all these years never knowing my own sister, this is so cool, I have a proper family! I have a little sister, and a mother.' he said, trailing off slightly.  
  
Rogue let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, and spoke to him. 'Look Kurt, Mystique isn't about to win any prizes for being a great mother. Hell, she wouldn't win any prizes for being that nice a person. But I can tell you that I think she loves us, both of us. She said that if we ever need her, we just have to find her and she'll be there. This isn't exactly an ideal family, but it is a family, which is good enough for me at least. I mean, I do get a brother out of all of this.'   
  
Kurt smiled at her, the goofy grin firmly back in place on his face. 'You do know that I can now claim the rights of a big brother to make your life a misery?' he said, a mischievous glint in his eye.   
  
Rogue punched him lightly on the arm. 'I'll expect nothing else, elf boy!'   
  
He laughed, easing the tension that had sprung up between them in the conversation. 'Actually, I wasn't thinking about Mystique. I mean I was, but I was also thinking this; where does the father fit into this family situation?'   
  
The laugh left Rogues face as she considered this. 'That is a good question.' They said nothing more. Brother and sister sat next to each other, each lost in contemplation for the last part of their family puzzle, yet grateful that they didn't have to think alone anymore.  
  
  
Scott entered the Professors study, feeling a little curious as to why the Professor hadn't come down when Rogue had arrived back at the institute. Surely he would want to talk to her, after the events of the day. When he pushed open the door, he found Xavier and Jean sitting together, both wearing the expressions of people who had just been caught in conversation, and who had had to end it very suddenly. He raised his eyebrow slightly, and spoke to the Professor.  
  
'Rogue's just come back, in case you didn't already know.' He said, guessing that Xavier must have had his reasons for not coming down to greet Rogue. He looked at Jean, who stared at him with veiled annoyance, making it understood that she was still a bit upset about him overruling her earlier on that day.  
  
'Yes' the professor said, 'we knew,' there was something there in the back of his voice that made Scott's eyebrow rise even further.  
  
'Professor, can I ask you something? You said you spoke to Rogue; do you have any idea of how she's handling all of this? I mean, I saw her when she was coming in, and she seemed changed somehow. Did you pick up on that?'  
  
Xavier paused for a moment before he answered; giving an answer that was measured in reply.  
  
'I think Scott, that we must give Rogue time to adapt to these adjustments in her own way. I'm sure if she needs our help, she will ask for It.' he ended in a tone that signified that the conversation was over.  
  
'Right, sure. Okay, catch you at dinner Professor. You too Jean.' And Scott left the office, feeling even more confused than he had when he came in.  
  
Once he was sure that his pupil had well and truly left, Xavier turned to Jean, with a frown across his forehead. 'This is very serious Jean. I was completely unable to detect the arrival of Rogue back at the mansion. I can no longer trace her or her thoughts.'   
  
Jean nodded mutely, and Xavier continued, speaking cautiously. 'I think perhaps, that we need to find a way to dumb down some of Rogue's power. If she were to get into trouble, this lack of connection would mean that we would be unable to help her. Can you get to work on it some time soon Jean?'   
  
The girl opposite him pushed aside all the questions about the truth in her Professor's motives, merely nodding at him again, saying 'Yes Professor, I'll get right on it.'  
  
Jean left the office without another word, and Xavier leaned back in his chair, a smile crossing his face for the first time that day.  
  
  
Rogue leant back in her bed that night, not even sure if she wanted to go over the events of the day. It was definitely interesting- she would give it that. She wasn't going to try and deal with the power and the prophecy at that moment; she needed time to come to grips with it, and to learn how to use it properly. She looked down to see the pendant glittering around her neck. If Mystique, her mother, was right, then this would make it a little easier for her to use her powers.  
  
Rogue was perfectly content at that moment in time, to think that things had on the whole improved in her life. Three of her deepest desires had been fulfilled in one day. She could touch now, she could show the world just who she was and not be afraid of them getting hurt from it. She had a family, granted it didn't fight the average all American family of Jean Grey, but she had a family all the same. She had a big Brother who was just as glad to have found her, as she was to have found him. And she had had her first ever kiss.   
  
Oddly enough, it was this that was uppermost in her mind. She could still feel the little tingles of electricity coursing through her from when Pietro had touched her, and his face was painted on the back of her eyelids, allowing her to slip into dreams of him easily. But there was still something there, something holding her back from falling more deeply for young Mister Maximoff, and that something was living in the same house as her. Because as much as she liked Pietro, she still got a little thrill of anticipation from imaging Scott's reaction when he saw her in her new outfits.   
  
Rogue threw her head back on the pillow. The feelings for Scott were fading second by second, replaced with a deep longing for a person that was probably very bad for her. Yet Rogue couldn't stop herself as she reached for the phone by her bed. She couldn't hold her fingers back as she tapped in the number of the Brotherhood house, whilst moving outside so as not to disturb a sleeping Kitty.   
  
After seven rings, a groggy Lance answered the phone. Rogue leaned on the balcony ledge as she spoke to him.  
  
'Ello, who's it?' came the sleepy voice that made Rogue smile. God she missed living with them all.  
  
'Lance, it's Rogue, I wanted to talk to Pietro.' There was a pause, and something moved in the background, she assumed it was Lance looking for him. Then the receiver was picked up again, and Lance spoke again, sounding slightly awake now.  
  
'Sorry Rogue, he isn't in at the moment. Kitty isn't up is she?' he asked.  
  
'Nope, asleep inside.'  
  
'Oh.' There was a gap, then, 'Rogue, how are you, after all that happened today?' he said, concern evident over the phone line.  
  
'I'm dealing with it Lance, but it's hard. You do forgive me for going back to the X-men don't you? I had to sort out things with Kurt.'  
  
'What things?' he asked quickly. 'Sorry, none of my business, but if you and Kurt became an item or something, I think the house here might be boomed down, and we may have a suicidal speedster on our hands!'   
  
Rogue laughed softly, trying not to take his comment about Pietro too seriously. 'No it's nothing like that. I found out today too that Mystique is my mother. Which means that..'  
  
'Kurt is your brother. Right. Wow, I guess. Does this mean that Mystique is alive?'   
  
'Yeah, she's out there somewhere now, and we'll see her again. But you didn't answer my question.'  
  
'Oh yeah, do I forgive you?' Lance said, as though he were giving it serious thought. 'Of course I do Rogue, we all do, especially after what you just said. But even though you have a real family now, you should know that you'll always be our baby sister, except in the eyes of Pietro of course!'  
  
Rogue laughed whilst wiping a tear of sadness from her eye, wondering for the fiftieth time how she could have left them all.   
  
Lance seemed to understand. 'Seriously, if you ever decide that you want to leave. Or if you're ever in any sort of trouble. Heck, even if you just want to have some company for a pizza and movie our something, our door is always going to be open to you.'  
  
'Thanks, one day I'll take you up on that offer, but right now I guess I'd better get to bed.' Rogue said regretfully.   
  
'No prob, see you at school tomorrow. Night night.'  
  
'Sleep tight.'  
  
'Don't let the beddy bugs bite!'   
  
Rogue was laughing again as she hung up the phone, opening the door to go back to bed. She was interrupted by a call from below her.  
  
'Rogueo, Rogueo, where for art thou Rogueo!' she shook her head as she looked down from her balcony to see Pietro standing on the grass below, a flower clasped in his hand.  
  
'Come on up.' She said, beckoning him to join her.  
  
He shuffled his feet slightly. 'Alas, the speed only works on a horizontal basis.'   
  
'No problem' she said, using her power to lift him all the way up, slightly unnerving he who was unnervable. By the time he arrived at her side though, the grin was firmly stuck back on his face.  
  
'Hey, just thought I'd swing by to see how you were, the phone can be so impersonal you know.' He said, casually moving closer to her, whilst Rogue was ever aware of the closing space between them. Before she would have been afraid, right now she was just the opposite. He handed her the flower in his hand, and Rogue ran its soft petal over her cheek.  
  
'So how are you?' he said, gazing at her intently. She was going to say what she'd said to everyone else; that she was dealing with it, but it would take time. Instead she told him the truth.  
  
'Actually, I suppose I'm kind of in a daze about it all, as though it isn't really happening to me. And I'm so afraid that once I do come to terms with it all, that I won't be able to handle it, that I won't be worthy of having so much power, you know.'  
  
'What are you talking about?' He said, his voice low, 'of course you can cope, you're one of the strongest people I've ever met.'  
  
'But somebody like me was never meant to have this type of power. It should have been someone else, like Jean for example.'   
  
'Are you joking? It would be like arming Barbie was a machine gun; she would have absolutely no idea of how to use it. You were always meant to outshine the others Rogue, you already did in my eyes.' He said, brimming over with emotion as he spoke.  
  
She felt a complete rush of tenderness towards the pale haired boy in front of her; the fact that he looked damn good in the moonlight helped a lot too. She leaned forward, eyes shining.   
  
'You're sweet, you know that don't you.'   
  
'Don't let anyone know, it might damage my reputation.'  
  
Rogue chuckled softly. 'You know what, I'm in such a daze about today, that I can't really remember anything about it that clearly.' She said innocently.  
  
Pietro got her meaning. 'Well allow me to refresh your memory then.' He said, not even finishing his sentence as he leaned in for a second kiss that sent shivers down his spine and set his body on fire.   
  
That fire was put out however, by the sound of the doors to Rouge's bedroom being slammed open. The two teens sprang apart, and Rogue put a hand to her mouth.  
  
'Oh god, it's Wolverine. He'll be pissed, you have to go.'   
  
'All in good time.' He said, the grin in place as he kissed her firmly on the lips, then ran from the mansion just as Logan burst on to the balcony, claws out and his face caught up in a growl. He wasn't exactly pleased to see Rogue leaning against the balcony and laughing at him.  
  
'You know Logan; we should re name you to Wil. E. Coyote.' She said, pausing to speak between giggles. 'Cause you sure as hell are never gonna catch that road runner!'  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Hooray, I managed to update quicker than before. I'll see if I can continue in this way (hint: reviews help!!). Anyways, just thought you should know that any attempt at doing accents has been thrown firmly out the window, and I hope you're all happy with the Rietro I chucked in at the end there. I warn you, things are not going to be easy for them! By the way, thank you all for reviewing in the past, long may it continue!!! 


	6. In which Rogue undergoes a transformatio...

Chapter 6  
  
Rogue got up the next morning about an hour earlier than she usually did. The reason for this was that she wanted to get dressed and ready for school without having to contend with Kitty and her quest for carrying out a makeover. The brown haired freshman was currently oblivious to Rogues activity, and her roommate sincerely hoped that that would continue.  
  
She showered, letting the water wash all over her, cleansing her of her past, and when she stepped out and dried herself, she felt fresher than she ever had before. Leaving her hair down as she usually did, she went to her wardrobe and fetched out some of the new clothes she had bought the day before. Smiling slightly to herself, she changed quickly, looking at her reflection in the mirror, and finally seeing herself in the reflection. It felt good.  
  
Rogue decided against make up, she wanted to go all natural to school today. Brushing a strand of white hair from her eyes, she left her room, practically skipping down the steps to the kitchen, before any of the other inhabitants of the mansion had even opened their eyes. Yes, Rogue thought with a slight twinkle in her eye, things are going to change around here.  
  
About a half hour later, Kitty Pryde woke up, realising within about five seconds that her roommate was suspiciously missing. Rubbing the last remains of sleep from her bleary eyes, she threw herself out of bed, desperate to know where Rogue was and to inspect her new look before anybody else could. But a quick search of the room and bathroom turned up nothing, and it was with a slightly sulky expression on her face that Kitty got herself ready for school that morning, also preparing to find Rogue and give her last minute tips on appearance. Kitty would be damned if she didn't have at least a little say in the girls new look.  
  
Unfortunately for Kitty, somebody had already beaten her to the privilege of being the first to see the new Rogue, and that someone was Evan. He made his way down to the kitchen with a jaunty spring in his step, not even noticing the girl sitting at the kitchen table as he went into the fridge and emerged triumphant with a carton of moo juice. He held it tightly in his fist as he shut the door, looking past it to see something that made him squeeze the carton to the point of explosion, and to send spikes shooting onto the bulletin board that hung against the wall.  
  
'Hi Evan', was all Rogue said, trying her very hardest to keep the amusement hidden from his voice.  
  
Evan couldn't speak; his mouth just hung open for a while as he took in his teammates drastic change in appearance. Sure, Rogue had always been pretty, in an unconventional way, even more so after she'd begun to wear less makeup to school. But now, now she was absolutely stunning. She wore her hair loose, as she always did, the white stripes at the front giving her an exotic and unusual look. Her face was completely devoid of make up, showing for the first time abnormally clear skin, and shining eyes that glistened like emeralds, letting whoever was looking into them become lost in their hypnotic beauty. And the outfit! Well, Evan had figured that since Rogue could touch, she'd be baring a little more skin from now on, but he hadn't figured on her revealing this much. She still kept the slightly different edge to her clothing, but it was slightly more dressed down, more casual. Gone were the black tights and see-through green shirts, replaced by cropped t-shirts, some plain, some with oriental or abstract designs painted on them, and black jeans and skirts, with ornamental pendants hanging from her neck. One stood out in particular, it sparkled, even in the artificial light of the kitchen, and glistened with all the radiance that the girl wearing it now let off.  
  
Rogue began to blush slightly, and Evan realised that he'd now been staring at her for something like a minute. He felt that now was the time to say something.  
  
'Wow Rogue' was about all he was up to at that moment in time.  
  
The two of them stood like that for a good few moments before Kitty finally found Rogue, and she too was halted in her tracks when she saw the change that her friend had undergone. She had been all ready to offer tips about accessorising or dressing, and now found that the girl in front of her had a style that nobody had a right to mess with.  
  
'You look totally great!' she squealed, the shock having halted her only for a second. She ran forward and hugged Rogue, still almost jumping up and down with excitement. It was now Rogue's turn to look a little daunted.  
  
'I used to dress like this before I came here, before my powers manifested.' She said, as though the days where she couldn't touch were a bad nightmare, and one that she just woken up from.  
  
Evan took that chance to excuse himself from the kitchen, and ran away with a speed that could almost have rivalled quicksilver, leaving a puddle of moo juice in his wake.  
  
Kitty and Rogue both burst into peals of laughter at the boy's obvious discomfort, then Kitty spoke again.  
  
'Oh wow, this is like, totally awesome! I can't wait till the guys all see you!' she said, practically skipping. Rogue couldn't help but get caught up in Kitty's excitement, a smile shining out from the face that had frowned for so long. It made Kitty feel good to see Rogue happy, she had felt so bad after the birthday incident, and then Rogue had had that awful day to contend with. Seeing Rogue grin in that way also made Kitty feel a lot closer to her, like for the first time since Rogue arrived at the institute, the girls were really bonding. And Kitty really wanted to be Rogues friend, and not just another teammate.  
  
Kurt walked in then, with his normally blue fur sticking out at all angles. He did a double take as he took in his sister, and grinned in a goofy way at her.  
  
'Ooh, who are you dressing up for then? Trying to impress a certain someone, are we Rogue?' he said, never dropping the teasing tone from his voice. She responded by lifting an apple with her mind, and dropping it on his head from behind, making Kurt give a satisfying cry of pain and surprise. Rogue smirked at him from across the breakfast table, and Kurt pretended to sulk.  
  
'Whoa,' Kitty said, having just watched what went on between the two X- men. 'Like, what is going on with you two?' she said, looking at both of their faces for an explanation.  
  
Rogue looked at Kurt. 'Should we tell her, she does look awfully keen to know.'  
  
Kurt looked at a furiously nodding Kitty, and grinned again. 'Nah, it's more fun this way!' he then bamfed from the kitchen, the apple that had dropped on his head clutched in his hand.  
  
Rogue took one look at Kitty's frustrated face, before touching the pendant that hung around her neck and following Kurt's example, departing from the room in a flash. Kitty was now alone, with no explanations.  
  
'I, argh!' she said, stamping her foot on the floor so hard that it phased halfway through. 'Some day I'm having!'  
  
  
  
Scott Summers finished packing his bag for the school day, and slung it over his shoulder lazily, a preoccupied look on his face. Today was the day to start his plan to keep Rogue as one of the X-men. The way he saw it, Rogue needed somebody who was going to be her friend, not just another teammate. As soon as she had friends like that at the institute, she'd stop wanting to go off with scum like Maximoff, and the brotherhood. It was even more important now that Rogue didn't change allegiances, now that she had become so powerful. Scott shuddered when he thought of what the Brotherhood would do with that kind of power.  
  
He felt bad about befriending Rogue just to keep her at the X-men, but it was Scott's duty as a leader. He therefore resolved to get to know the Goth girl, and to try and like her genuinely. He wasn't about to get involved with her or anything, being that there was only one person for him at that moment in time. And right now, she wouldn't even give him the time of day.  
  
Scott knew that Jean wouldn't like him getting close to Rogue, and the thought bothered him. He hoped that she'd get over it though, because the two of them belonged together. They were the first two recruits at the mansion, they both did well in school, they were both popular and well liked, and agreed on nearly everything. He knew that some of the other mutants called them 'Mr. And Mrs. X-men', and instead of being offended by the title, he was pleased by it. It suited them, Jean would just have to realise it.  
  
He shook his head of these thoughts as he left his room. As he now lived in a house with three different mind readers, keeping thoughts to yourself was a difficult business, and he didn't really want anyone finding out about his plan with Rogue, or his infatuation with Jean. It didn't help that of course that both the girls mentioned made up two thirds of the mind reading population, one with psychic power beyond that of the Professor. Scott sighed, adjusting his shades. Things were never easy.  
  
The X-men were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. Jean was there, refusing to meet his eyes, but Rogue was nowhere to be found. At least, the Rogue he knew wasn't there. There was a girl standing before him that was so beautiful she sort of took his breath away. Scott stood there, slightly breathless, and regained control of senses to realise that the girl was in fact Rogue. His eyes widened, and Rogue gave him a shy smile, showing Scott that his feelings were pretty evident on his face. Scott felt himself going slightly red, and Bobby and Kitty stifled sniggers.  
  
'Right then everyone!' Jean said sharply, snapping all of them to her attention. 'Now we're done waiting for Scott we can get going.' She beckoned for everyone to follow her out the door, moving quickly so as to get to the passenger seat of Scott's car first. The rest of the X-men raised their eyebrows at Jean's display, and climbed in. Scott turned the key and started the car, turning once more to look at Rogue before he concentrated on the driving. Perhaps getting to like her would be a lot easier than he'd first thought.  
  
The new Rogue had caused a complete stir up at Bayville High. Students were convinced that they had never seen her before, which made Kitty burst into fits of giggles. As she had predicted, her friends new look sent shockwaves through the male population of the school. Guys stopped in their tracks as she walked down the hallway, and fought each other to go and talk to her.  
  
The brotherhood was no exception to this rule. They had been grouped together round the lockers that morning, discussing both Lance and Pietro's conversations with Rogue the night before, when the real thing came up to them to say hello, and they were utterly shocked.  
  
I t was a tribute to their relationship with Rogue that they knew who she was immediately, but that didn't make them any less shocked by her change in appearance. Lance was the first to recover, and saved Rogue any further embarrassment by shattering the silence that had fallen over the group.  
  
'Well, I think I can speak for all of us when I say wow.' He said, smiling at Rogue in a way that made her relax and feel more comfortable.  
  
'Wow- there's a word I've heard a lot today,' she said, and Lance instantly regretted their response to her.  
  
'I guess it must be hard, with all these people taking such an interest in you all of a sudden.'  
  
'I suppose,' she said, shrugging her shoulders and intending to say no more. She found herself going on however. 'I mean, it sort of makes me wonder, did I look that bad before?' she smiled and held up her hand for silence as the Brotherhood all rushed to say that she always looked great. 'I just don't want to be someone who people like because they look good, or because they're popular. That's just not me, I want to be my own person.' She said, pleading with her eyes and hoping they'd understand how she felt.  
  
'But that's just it Rogue.' Pietro said, forgetting about the others around him. 'It's the person that you are that people find so beautiful.' He stopped and became aware of his friend's presence. God he was going to get a ribbing for that remark later.  
  
But as Rogue smiled at him and murmured her thank you, he found that he didn't really care. Lance realised that this was no longer a place for all of them two be, and beckoned for Tabby, Toad and Lance to come with him.  
  
'Come on guys, there's some vandalising we've gotta do before the bell.' He said, grinning at the pair before sauntering off down the hall, the others in two.  
  
Pietro rolled his eyes skyward before turning back to Rogue, who looked equally amused yet exasperated.  
  
'Well,' he said slowly, leaning forward in a way that reminded her just about what had gone on between them the previous night. 'I guess Lance does, all be it without any tact, bring up a good point. Which is that we should probably talk about last night.'  
  
The sentence sent shivers down her spine, being that she never thought she'd have them directed at her. She nodded at him slightly, and Pietro took a deep breath, getting ready to tell her what she probably already knew.  
  
Scott coming up behind them and placing a hand on Rogues shoulder protectively interrupted them. He looked at the silver haired boy, and their eyes locked in a glare that sent ice waves right through the school. Rogue looked like she was about to say something, and then decided that instead of getting involved she should break up the potential fight.  
  
'Come on Scott,' she said, bringing both boys attention back to herself. 'We should probably get to class. Talk to you later Pietro.' She said, softening her voice slightly as she saw the hurt expression on his face. Scott missed the gesture that Quicksilver made at him before disappearing down the hall, and Rogue had to bite back laughter as she watched his antics. She and Scott made their way to class, the boy in shades all the while on the look out for those who would try to take Rogue away from him.  
  
  
  
It was the last class before lunchtime when Rogue realised that Risty was missing, so eventful was her day. She was sitting in a class with Jean when she finally took note of her friend's empty chair. Where in the world was Risty? She tried something that she'd never done before, and reached out with her mind to find Pietro, speaking to him from across the school.  
  
Pietro, have you seen Risty today? She asked telepathically, laughing quietly to herself as she could almost see Pietro jumping out of fright.  
  
No, no I haven't. Jesus Rogue, at least warn me that you can do that. He said, partly out of embarrassment at getting scared that way, partly hiding his joy at talking to Rogue again.  
  
The last time I saw her, he said, trying to be helpful, was when you'd collapsed. Risty took care of you, while I went to fetch help. By the time I got back you were both gone. That's all I know.  
  
Right, Rogue replied, sounding preoccupied even in her mind. Okay, see you later then. She didn't wait for a reply from him before she ended their conversation.  
  
  
  
Because Rogue realised now, just who Risty was, just why she had been there, and just why she would no longer be coming to school. Rogue shook her head, wondering just what disguise her mother was going to use next.  
  
Jean could see that Rogue wasn't really thinking. In fact, by the look on her face, she could see that she was in fact having a conversation with someone else. And that fact pissed her off a little. Rogue really needed to pay attention to her studies, if she wanted to do well in school. Jean never had conversations in her head when she was in class. Against her better judgement, she used her power to divert the teacher's attention to where Rogue was sitting, so he could clearly see that she wasn't paying attention. And she felt a tiny rush of malicious satisfaction, as the man came and stood in front of Rogue, hitting her desk with his ruler to bring her back to the real world.  
  
Rogue became aware of what was going on, and then realised she was about to get yelled at. She looked across at Jean for help, but the red head wouldn't meet her eyes. So instead Rogue leaned back in her chair and went for a bored, couldn't-care-less look that infuriated her teacher even more. Oh well, she thought to herself. If she was going to get into trouble, she may as well go all out.  
  
'Well, miss, miss,' the guy said, looking slightly ruffled as he realised he didn't recognise the student in front of him.  
  
'Rogue' she supplied, smirking at him as he remembered who she was. The rest of the class sat up to pay attention to the conversation.  
  
'Well, miss Rogue, perhaps you feel that you know enough to not pay attention in my class.' He said, looking at her disbelievingly. Rogue met his stare evenly.  
  
'So then, maybe you can tell me, say, who it was that won the battle of Edge hill?' he said, smiling grimly.  
  
Rogue leaned back even further, and answered without even knowing. 'The battle of Edge hill was fought in 1642, it was between the English Royalists and supporters of Parliament, otherwise known as the roundheads. And it's a trick question, because the outcome of the battle is still in dispute, both sides said they won.'  
  
Silence swept over the classroom, as the students realised that Rogue, formerly the average Goth girl, had answered a question that wasn't even mentioned in their textbook. The teacher was speechless.  
  
Then Lance, sitting at the back of the class, put an end to it by laughing and clapping his former teammate and friend. The rest of the class soon joined in, making their Professor go red with anger and humiliation. Cries of 'ooh, she got you there sir!' were echoing round the room, and Rogue couldn't resist standing up and bowing before her fellow students, causing the claps and hoots to become even louder.  
  
Next to her, Jean folded her arms and leant her head down so the others wouldn't see her sulk.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: He he he, take that Jean! Oh yes, I hope you all got the right impression of Scott. That he is a pain, but he's also a fairly misguided soul. Trust me, you'll like him better by the end, really! I'll try and update soon, and thank you all for reviewing. You're all great! 


	7. In which Pietro becomes paranoid

Chapter Seven  
  
It was late that day when Rogue was finally able to talk to Pietro. She was finding it hard to get away from the throngs of people that now apparently had a god reason to talk to her. She was still shocked about what had taken place in the classroom before lunch, when she had answered the teachers question without even having to think about it. But more than that, she was a little surprised at Jean's coldness towards her. It was true that the two of them were never going to be the best of friends, but the girl had always gone out of her way to be nice to Rogue, just as she did to everybody. Rogue remembered when she'd had the nightmares about Mystique and Kurt, and how Jean had come in and comforted her until the fear had all gone away. She was a big sister type figure in the mansion; one that everybody looked up to. So why had she turned away from Rogue when she had asked for her help?  
  
What was even more disturbing was that Rogue knew that Jean had alerted the teacher to her lack of attention in the first place. She could have understood Jean's disapproval at her not paying attention, but she had no idea why she would deliberately try to get her into trouble.  
  
For the first time, Rogue was glad about her new psychic abilities, as they allowed her to keep a clear head, even when she was faced with all these new revelations, like Risty being her mother in disguise, or Jean being so malicious for some reason.  
  
Still, it was with a very preoccupied mind that Rogue met Pietro, round the back of the school playing field. He was leaning against a stand, looking extremely put out. Rouge walked up to him and sighed at the expression on his face.  
  
'I'm sorry Pietro, I guess I've had other things on my mind today.' She said, wanting for him to be understanding, so they could talk about it and she could get everything off of her chest.  
  
Instead Pietro raised his eyebrow, a small and joyless smile on his face. 'You mean like Scott Summers?'  
  
Rogue took a deep intake of breath, as though she'd just been seriously winded. 'What the hell are you talking about?' she said softly, whispering the words.  
  
'Come off it Rogue, you blew me off this morning to walk away with him.'  
  
'I had a class with him.' she said, her voice bordering on the edge of disbelief.  
  
'Fine, but don't try and tell me that he isn't the reason that you're staying with the X-geeks.' Pietro said loudly.  
  
'You know that isn't true.' Rogue said, her voice sounding hurt and angry. 'I stayed because I have friends there; I have a brother there. But if you want to think that, then fine. Screw you. I thought you were better than that.' Rogue ended up yelling before turning to storm away. She had only made it ten paces when Pietro had zoomed in front of her.  
  
'I'm sorry' he said meekly, his egotistical image having been shattered. He held his arms out to Rogue, and she needed no further invitation before she threw herself into them, burying her head on his shoulders. Pietro stroked her hair, and then jolted in surprise as he felt her shoulders begin to shake with sobs. He said nothing, and just held her to him, letting her cry into his shoulder as the late afternoon sunlight poured down over them. The two were locked in the moment for around ten minutes before Rogue finally stopped.  
  
She lifted her head and faced him, the remnants of tears still on her clear face. 'I'm sorry, I guess I've needed to do that for a while now, I needed to get it all out my system, after everything that's happened. I guess I just needed something to set it all off.' She said, smiling slightly as he brushed her face dry with his fingers, still in awe of the beauty that was in front of him.  
  
'But I don't get It.' she said, startling him out of his thoughts. 'Why would you say all those things? Its just not like you to be jealous.'  
  
'IknowIknow, andI'msosorry. Isupposeitsjusttheshockofseeingyoulikethis,orseeing everyone'sreactiontoit. IsupposeIthoughtthatnoweveryoneknowsyouaresobeautiful, they'regoingtotryandtakeyouawayfromme, andIcouldn'tstandthathappening.' He said all this very fast, hoping that she wouldn't catch his reason.  
  
No such luck. Rogue worked out what he had said, and then looked into his face with amusement. 'Are you telling me, that you, Pietro Maximoff, are getting paranoid about your success with girls?' she said, trying very hard to keep the smirk off her face.  
  
'Erm, well yes.' He said, looking down at his oh so fast feet and blushing for what was the second time in his life, cursing Rogue for the effect she had on him.  
  
Rogue couldn't hold it in any more; she broke out into peels of laughter, and then lifted Pietro's face to look into her eyes. 'I promise you speedy, that Scott and me are just friends. As for the other guys in the school, well, I can't promise you anything, but….' She trailed off as he smacked her playfully on the arm.  
  
She pouted, and then reached a hand up to touch the pendant that hung round her neck. A couple of seconds later, she had zipped away from Pietro, moving off onto the empty athletics track of the playing field, and moving with a speed that Pietro himself would have found hard to keep up with.  
  
Of course that didn't bother him in the slightest. Always one for a challenge he took off after Rogue, using the full extent of his power to chase her down. After about ten seconds and ten laps round the track, Pietro had fully caught up with Rogue. He leapt out at her and tackled her to the floor, their clothes being covered in dust and sand. The two teens picked themselves up off the floor, Rogue not realising just how dizzy running that fast could make you. She toppled over into Quicksilver's arms, and remained there until the sun had made its descent into nighttime, neither of the two wanting the moment to end.  
  
It was a bit later that night when Rogue slipped back into the mansion. The sky was almost black outside, as was her room when she creaked open the door. She sighed in relief at having gotten away with her little escapade, and walked fully into the room.  
  
The moment the door was shut, the lights flipped on and Rogue saw Scott, Kitty, Kurt, Logan and Jean sitting on her bed. She put a hand to her forehead and groaned, rueing not using her power to check that everyone was asleep before coming in.  
  
Upon her arrival, the people in the room sprung into life. Logan growled softly, the edges of his claws showing, Kurt rolled his eyes at her and ran a hand across his neck to indicate that she was in a hell of a lot of trouble. Jean raised her eyebrows sky high, and Kitty and Scott rose to meet her, the former slightly more enthusiastically than the latter.  
  
Kitty threw her arms around her friend's neck. 'Like, where were you, we've all been worried sick! Even the Professor didn't know where you were.'  
  
'No,' Rogue murmured, 'I don't suppose he would have.' Kitty let her go and skipped off to the bathroom to begin getting ready for bed, not wanting to be around for any unpleasantness.  
  
Scott stepped in front of Rogue, his face showing a surprising amount of concern. 'Are you all right?' he said softly, as though they were the only two people in the room.  
  
'Yeah Scott, I'm fine thanks. I was just out with a friend.' She said, smiling on the outside and wondering why she hadn't said that that friend was Pietro.  
  
Still, Cyclops seemed satisfied with her answer. He gave her shoulder a squeeze and then headed for the door, turning round to give her a grin. 'I would lecture you, but somehow I think that Logan would be more thorough in that department.' He said, before moving away, not wanting to be caught by a death glare from the Wolverine.  
  
Logan looked at Rogue with an expression of part anger, part amusement. 'So then Kid, let's hear whatever excuse you've made up on your way here.'  
  
Rogue took a deep breath and decided to go for honesty. 'I was out with a friend, but I didn't lose track of time. I guess I thought I could sneak back in here unnoticed.'  
  
Logan looked as though there was an inner conflict inside of him. On the one hand, the girl had flouted the rules of the mansion, on a school night as well. On the other hand, she had owned up to it, and he did admire honesty. He seemed to reach a conclusion, and then cleared his throat.  
  
'All right kid, we'll say two extra hours of the danger room this weekend, and call it quits, is that all right.' He asked, his voice showing that he didn't expect any disagreement. Rogue nodded her head mutely.  
  
'Wow sis, only two hours in the danger room? You are one lucky mutant!' Kurt said, grinning at her. 'Though perhaps if it is Logan overseeing you, you aren't so lucky after all!' He then realised that Logan was still sitting next to him, now with his claws fully sticking out.  
  
'Clam down wolvie, the fuzzy dude didn't mean any disrespect!' Kurt said a little worriedly, before bamfing out the room as quickly as possible.  
  
A loud knock at the door stopped Rogues giggling. She opened it slightly, and was confronted by a breathless Bobby.  
  
'Rouge,' he panted, 'you have to get ready for bed. The others, they know you've stayed out past curfew. You have to look like you've been here a while or they'll kill you!' he said.  
  
Rogue smiled and pushed open the door fully, revealing Logan and Jean. Bobby gave a little squeak and a panicked look in Rogues direction, before fleeing down the corridor. Logan took off after him, muttering something that involved the word 'bub'.  
  
Rogue and Jean were now left alone in the room, each eyeing the other a little suspiciously. Jean approached Rogue, a blank expression on her face. 'I've got a message from the Professor. He says not to make a habit of staying out so late, and that he thinks the two of you should have a little talk about things at the weekend.'  
  
Rogue stood straight. 'And why couldn't the Professor tell me this himself?'  
  
'Because,' Jean said icily, 'He can't afford to waste his time on teenagers that stay out late at night.'  
  
'Good night Jean,' Rogue said with a look of annoyance on her face. She had no wish to get into an argument with the girl at that moment in time.  
  
Jean turned on her heel and walked out the door, leaving Rogue alone for about ten seconds before Kitty came bouncing back into the room. 'So like, how mad was Logan? And where were you?' she said, looking at Rogue for instant explanation. Rogue laughed and collapsed wearily into a chair, as Kitty took a seat next to her.  
  
'Well, Logan was all right, and I was actually out with Pietro.' She said, waiting for the expected response that Kitty would give.  
  
Sure enough, a large amount of squeals and cries of ooooh followed, and Rogue just couldn't hold back a smile.  
  
'I so totally knew that you two would like, get it together. Lance says that he talks about you all the time at home.' Kitty gushed, pleased to be engaged in a talk about boys with Rogue, who was blushing ever so slightly.  
  
'He does does he?' she said coolly, her eyes shining brightly. Kitty let out a giggle, and began to get a little too excited again.  
  
'This is so great! You and he and Lance and me can like, double date sometime. Do you like the cinema, or do you want to go bowling or something?' Kitty said.  
  
'Whoa, slow down, it's a little too early to be planning double dates.' Rogue said, holding her hand up.  
  
'Why, I mean, you two are like, together aren't you?'  
  
'I, I don't know. I mean, there is definitely, well, something. I just guess it hasn't really been made official yet.' Rogue finished lamely.  
  
'Well it will be soon, don't worry. He's absolutely crazy about you, as are most the guys at school. I mean, did you like see Scott's face this morning? It was like this.'  
  
Rogue laughed as Kitty opened her eyes wide and hung her mouth open. 'It's all right Kitty, I think we can safely say that Scott is lost to Jean Grey for all eternity. They are Mr. And Mrs. X-men, or Mr. And Mrs. Perfect if you want to call it what it is.'  
  
'Yeah, I suppose he is. But hey, what is up with Jean. She was like, totally harsh about you staying out late. She said that you had to be disciplined, and you had to learn to be part of the team.'  
  
Rogue leaned back in her chair, this new piece of information not really surprising to her. 'To be honest Kitty, I have no idea what's going on with her. But hey, lets forget it, all right.'  
  
And with that the girls moved on to gossip long into the night. Rogue becoming more and more disbelieving as she did yet another thing she wouldn't normally do.  
  
  
  
After leaving Rogue and Kitty's room, Jean did not go straight to her bedroom. She instead walked to the end of the corridor, and opened the storage closet, walking fully into it before she shut the door. She moved past the mounds of linen and towels, walking right into the back of the tiny room to reveal a staircase that went down into blackness. As quietly as possible, Jean descended into the dark, walking for about two minutes before she came to another door.  
  
She pushed it open, entering what looked to be a medical lab, where Professor Xavier was waiting. He looked up at his student as she arrived.  
  
'She is back then.' He said, as a statement, not a question.  
  
'She said she was out with a friend. I couldn't read her mind at all, its extremely well defended. But I assume that she was probably out with one of the Brotherhood.'  
  
'Yes' Xavier agreed. 'Well her friendship with the brotherhood will make it easier to turn Scott against her, which is good. We cannot lose Scott in all this, remember that Jean.'  
  
'But I'm worried Professor. He seems to care about her now; you should have seen his face when he saw her this morning. That could complicate things. Then there was the fact that she answered that question in class this morning. She's definitely becoming more intelligent.'  
  
'And that Jean, is why we must work as hard as possible on this formula. We need to develop this poison further so that we can make her mind vulnerable once more. We simply must know what she's thinking.'  
  
'Is it really a poison Professor?' Jean asked hesitantly. She wanted to do what was best for the institute, and to get rid of Rogue, but she didn't want to hurt her, to poison her.'  
  
Xavier seemed to sense her discomfort. 'It's all right child. The effects will be short lived, which is why we must give her regular doses, perhaps in a drink or something. See what you can arrange.'  
  
Jean nodded, and set to work on the chemicals that were on the table, her head hung. The Professor looked at her curiously, and reached out with his mind. He smiled as he looked inside her head and found what he was looking for.  
  
'Don't worry about Scott Jean. Everyone, including him, knows that you are the only girl in his life.'  
  
Jean shrugged nonchalantly, but it was with a small smile on her face that she went back to her work.  
  
  
  
It was around that time that Pietro arrived back at the Brotherhood house, in a good mood that frightened his friends.  
  
'Yo, look at Quicksilver!' Todd said a little worriedly, looking at the expression of giddy content on his face.  
  
'What the hell are you so happy about?' Fred asked between mouthfuls of popcorn, only once taking his eyes away from the small television that stood in front of the couch. Tabby, who was sitting next to him, turned to Pietro, gave him a once over and grinned.  
  
'I think speedy's been getting a little action with Bayville's brand new wonder girl!' she said, winking at him.  
  
Lance walked into the room, took one look at his friend, and said 'Have a good time with Rogue?' Smirking, he threw himself onto the already sagging couch.  
  
'Actually' Pietro said, speaking for the first time since entering the house, 'we had a fight.'  
  
'Then why are you so happy?' exclaimed Todd.  
  
'Because we made up' Pietro replied, a wide grin spreading across his handsome face. His eyes glazed over again.  
  
'I think Speedy is in love' Tabby crowed, throwing her arms in the air and in the process knocking the popcorn from Fred's hands.  
  
'Oh no, not another one.' Groaned Todd, causing everyone but Fred to look at him.  
  
'What is that supposed to mean?' Lance asked.  
  
'Nothing Yo. I'm just saying that you all seem to be getting involved with the X-geeks, you know. I thought they were the enemy.'  
  
'Some of them are, some of them aren't' Lance said, daring for any of the group to challenge him. Nobody said anything for a while.  
  
'So', Lance finally asked. 'Did Rogue give any hint of her coming back yet, or have you scared her away yet Speedy?'  
  
'I'll ignore that comment.' Pietro said, 'and no, I think that Rogue is quite happy where she is at the moment, what with the elf and all.'  
  
'Hey,' Tabby protested, 'That is my elf I'll have you know.'  
  
They were interrupted from their conversation by the couch suddenly deciding to give way, splitting in two and leaving three of the Brotherhood in an undignified pile on the floor.  
  
Lance stood, rubbing dirt from his clothes. 'Is it any wonder Rogue doesn't want to come back? Look at what we have to offer her. A dirty, almost derelict house full of broken furniture. That's no sort of life for anyone. Why would she want to come back to all this?' he said, looking despondently around him.  
  
'Come on Lance,' Pietro said half-heartedly. 'You know that stuff never mattered to Rogue. She'll come back one day, trust me.'  
  
'Yeah, and maybe she'll bring her Elf and Kitty Kat with her.' Fred said lightly.  
  
'You know, that isn't that bad an idea,' Lance said thoughtfully. 'What if Rogue could bring the things that she loves most about the X-men with her.'  
  
'Yeah,' said Tabby, 'and I suppose that its just coincidence that the things she loves most happen to be the things we love most?'  
  
Even as Lance threw the pillow at her, he was grinning.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: There ya go! Sorry that not a lot happened in that chapter, the next one will cover what happens at the weekend, with the danger room session! We'll also see the first part of Xavier's dastardly plan. Oh yeah, the bit at the end of this chapter doesn't really have a point; I just thought that Lance and the Brotherhood needed to be in the chapter!!! One more thing, REVIEW PLEASE!!! 


	8. In which bets are made..... and lost

Chapter Eight  
  
The weekend couldn't have come quick enough for Rogue. She was desperate to get out from under the gazes of her classmates and be alone again. After sixteen years of being alone, she was finding it hard to adapt to the changes. It wasn't just her new appearance or the fact that she could now be as friendly to people as she wanted to be, but she was also filled with a sense of knowledge, the ability to do things that no other people could do, the brains that now came as part of her new persona. And to be perfectly honest, Rogue hated it.  
  
She felt like she was turning in to another Jean Grey, and that was the last thing she'd wanted. Sure, she had always envied Jean and her ability to get on with everyone and wrap men round her little finger, but she didn't want to turn into her, it was like she was losing touch of who she really was. Rogue didn't want to be another overachieving cheerleader who lived life according to somebody else rules, that wasn't her.  
  
If Rogue didn't like the change in her popularity, it was nothing compared to what Jean was feeling. Out of nowhere, a Goth girl had suddenly taken off her make up, and now she was everybody's favourite person? It just wasn't right, Rogue had no right to just waltz in with her wonderful powers and take everything that Jean had worked so hard for. Now she found that people asked Rogue for help with school, and guys called the mansion asking to talk to her. And the way Scott behaved? It was sickening, wondering around after her and growling at Pietro Maximoff whenever he caught Rogue talking to him. Jean knew that Scott had only resolved to become friendly with Rogue in order to keep her at the institute, but she sensed each day that his feelings for her were getting more and more genuine. It just wasn't fair!  
  
All the resentment helped Jean to work doubly hard in her attempts to make the poison with the Professor. And sure enough, on Friday night, whilst Rogue was out dancing with those idiots from the Brotherhood (Scott had gone to keep an eye on her), Jean had finally managed to get the formula just right. She held up a vile of clear, odourless liquid for the Professor to examine, and as he broke into a grin she felt herself glowing with pride.  
  
'Is it right Professor?' she asked, already sure of what his answer would be.  
  
'I would think so Jean, but we'll just have to test it and see won't we?' This time, when the Professors smile showed the malice that lurked beneath it, Jean showed no hesitation in echoing the grin.  
  
  
  
Rogue returned home that evening feeling better than she had done all week. She felt that, for the first time ever she had been able to experience what life was like for a normal teenage girl, even if Tabby had surprised Kurt and caused him to teleport all the way to the DJ's booth.  
  
Rogue and Kitty were outside the door of their room, having just bid goodnight to Scott and Kurt. Rogue had no real idea of why Scott had gone with them, though she was aware of how uncomfortable it made her feel with Pietro. She knew that soon she would have to decide how to pursue that situation, but right now she was just content to have as much fun as possible.  
  
The door was opened and the girls were about to step inside when Jean appeared. She tapped Rogue lightly on the shoulder, and almost smirked at the surprise on the younger girls face at seeing her there. Jean took a deep breath to control herself, and then spoke.  
  
'Rogue, the Professor would like to have that word with you now, if that's alright.' She said, making it sound almost as though Rogue had a choice. Jean watched her as she motioned for Kitty to wait up for her, then nodded. Jean smiled and began to walk with her down the hall.  
  
Neither girl said anything to each other as they made their way to the Professors office; they both knew that any conversation between them would in all likelihood result in an argument. It was a few tense minutes before they arrived at the polished oak door that went through to Charles Xavier's study, and Jean then stepped forward and knocked on the door. The door swept open, and through it Rogue could see Professor X, sitting behind his desk just like always. She entered the room slightly apprehensively; staring straight into the eyes of the man she once respected above all others.  
  
Jean shut the door on them, not before flashing the Professor a secret smile. Rogue edged her way closer to the desk, and the Professor began to speak to her.  
  
'Look Rogue, I am going to be honest with you. I think that it is wrong for me to be on non-speaking terms with one of my own students. I think that we really need to sort all this out.' He looked at her with a half smile on his face, as though he were talking to a sulking child. Rogue folded her arms, and stared back at him insolently.  
  
'Why did you lie to me? You knew who I was, and you never told me. You knew Mystique was my mother, and you never told me. You knew Kurt was my brother, and you never told me. But that isn't going to happen anymore, because I don't need you to tell me things now, I can find them out for myself.' She said, allowing the confidence in her new abilities to seep through to herself.  
  
The Professor leaned back in his chair and laughed slightly, even though it was a hollow, mirthless laugh that inspired fear rather than happiness. He put his hands together, still smiling.  
  
'Now Rogue, there's no need to go around dishing out idle threats. I promise you that I shall not withhold any more information from you, and in return, you must allow me access to that mind of yours. Think what we could discover, and use for the good of the rest of the world. I am willing to admit that I made a mistake, are you willing to give me a second chance?' Xavier said, indicating clearly what her answer should be.  
  
Rogue looked into the eyes of the old man in front of her. He had taken her in; he had taken care of her. He had lied to her. She pushed past the eyes and looked straight into his mind, so subtly that he wouldn't even notice she was doing it. What she found there was enough to know what her answer should be.  
  
She stood up not once breaking eye contact with Xavier, and spoke clearly. 'No, you want my trust, you have to earn it.' before turning and walking very deliberately out of the room, fully conscious of what it was she should be doing next.  
  
Even as she walked away, the professor was still smiling. He reached out to talk to Jean, and then said Switch the drinks- you know what to do.  
  
And they watched Rogue drink her water that night, an air of triumph crackling all around them.  
  
  
  
'Alright Stripes lets go. I warn you, this ain't gonna be easy!' Wolverine bellowed from the control deck of the danger room. Rogue was entirely on her own against the machines, being watched from above by Logan, Scott, Kurt Bobby and Kitty.  
  
'How sweet' Logan said as they group settled down on a chair. 'The elf brought popcorn to watch the show.' Kurt grinned and raised his hand in a goofy wave, and Logan turned away in disgust.  
  
Below, Rogue gave him the thumbs up to begin. Logan pushed the button on one of the more advanced simulations, and Rogue began.  
  
Even Logan had to admit that he was impressed with the kid. In around the first five seconds of her being in there, she had successfully disabled half the battle machinery, most of it permanently. A few moments later, Rogue had used her psychic ability to blow up the remainder of the machinery, which now looked absolutely feeble, flopping about dejectedly with its guns hanging off at odd angles. Rogue hadn't actually moved from the position she had originally been standing in.  
  
Above her, Logan grunted. 'Not bad' he said grudgingly. It had taken him weeks to work out how to complete that simulation.  
  
Behind him, the x-men all sat there with mouths wide open. They had never seen anyone beat the danger room in that amount of time, even with a basic simulation. The true force of Rogue's power was really beginning to sink in to them.  
  
Rogue looked up at them all with an expression of boredom and amusement. She shouted up to Logan.  
  
'Hey Coyote! Can we make it a little harder please, I wanted to at least break out in a sweat or something.' Logan grimaced as she called him by his new nickname. None of the other x-men understood why Logan was referred to as that, but that didn't really matter to Wolverine. He decided to do something to bring the kid down to size, in the nicest way possible of course.  
  
He looked down at Rogue, grinning broadly. 'Stripes, could you come up here for a minute?'  
  
Rogue took a second then bamfed up the control room, smiling widely at her teammates. She looked at Logan for further instruction.  
  
'All right Stripes, I'll make you a deal. I'm going to throw everything we've got at you, and you have to beat it. Do that, and we'll forget about the rest of the session and call it quits. If you fail, then we'll scrap the nickname ok?' he said, not giving the kid any idea of what she was getting herself into.  
  
Rogue thought for a moment before reaching out to shake Logan's hand firmly. Scott came forward, holding his hand out as if to try and stop them shaking.  
  
'I don't think this is a good idea guys. I don't think you know just how many guns and machines we have stored in here. It's not a good idea to let Rogue go it alone.' He said, looking concerned. Rogue poked him in the chest.  
  
'You don't think I can do it?' she asked indignantly. Scott tried to think of a way to dig himself out of the hole he had made, when Rogue got a better idea.  
  
'Tell you what, as this is my day for gambling, I'll make you a bet. Give me five seconds to finish everything this room has to throw at me, and if I do it, then that car of yours is mine for one week. If I fail, well, you can think of a punishment later.'  
  
Scott seemed to be deliberating things. He knew Rogue was immensely powerful, but so was the room. She definitely couldn't beat it in five seconds. He grinned at her, and shook her hand.  
  
'I'll get thinking about that punishment.' He smirked.  
  
'I'm counting on it.' she grinned back, before porting back to the floor of the danger room. The rest of the x-men ran to the windows, on tenterhooks as to what was going to happen.  
  
Rogue took a deep breath, and then looked back up to Logan. 'All right, hit me with your best shot.'  
  
Logan grinned, and flipped the switches on every single simulation available. The noise of the equipment moving was enormous, and a few moments later Rogue looked around to find around fifty different dangers all pointed directly at her. Scott gulped, reverting back to his 'maybe this isn't a good idea' way of thinking.  
  
Rogue stood stock still, and Logan pushed the start button. The guns all began to fire, the machines all began to move towards the small girl standing in the centre of the room. And Rogue started glowing. Two seconds.  
  
Rogue threw her arms outwards, and the room was absolutely blinded for a second by what looked like a gigantic flash of lightning. Three seconds  
  
The light faded, and the x-men all looked down at the floor of the room, where fifty different items of offensive equipment were now lying in piles of destruction across the floor, all strewn out around Rogue who was giving a weary sort of grin. The clock stood at four seconds.  
  
The X-men all made their way down to join Rogue, the younger members absolutely blown away by what they had just seen, the older ones maintaining an aspect of quiet awe.  
  
Bobby was the first to say something. 'Wow Rogue, what the hell was that?'  
  
Rogue shrugged her shoulders and smiled 'Psychic wave, its very powerful.'  
  
She then turned to Logan and Scott.  
  
'So Coyote, are you up for a ride in my new car?'  
  
  
  
A few minutes later Scott was walking to his room to fetch his keys for Rogue, still a bit bemused at what had just occurred. He opened his door to find Jean there, waiting for him. His mouth opened slightly in surprise as Jean got up off his bed and made her way over to him.  
  
'I just want you to know Scott, that I know what you're up to with Rogue, and I think it's really mean to pretend to be her friend, just to keep her at the institute.' She said, folding her arms across her chest and not caring just how abrupt she sounded.  
  
'Jean, you have to listen to me. Its true that yes, at first I was befriending Rogue for that reason, but now I'm just not sure. I think I like her. And I'm not going to lose her to Maximoff and the Brotherhood.' He said, standing up straight and feeling quite shocked that he said those words from the heart. It was true; he did like Rogue, and definitely wanted to see what there could be between them. She was just so, perfect, so natural.  
  
Jean read his mind, and her face clouded over in anger. 'I think you're a little late to stop that happening Scott, she's always been considering going back to them. Pietro has just given her one more good reason to go. You're going to lose her, so forget about her. What about us?' she said, her angry facade fading in the last sentence.  
  
'What about us Jean?' Scott asked, keeping his voice neutral.  
  
Jean said nothing more; she just stood there, uncertain of whether or not to speak. She then moved aside, and Scott picked up his car keys. He left without another word.  
  
A few minutes later, the X-men had piled into the red convertible, with Rogue at the wheel, honking the horn and grinning madly. The car pulled out of the mansion, the passengers going out for some fun. Jean Grey watched them go with a mixture of sadness and bitterness on her face.  
  
And in the shadows of the house, the raven that had been watching them as well gave a satisfied smile before returning to her nest in the tree.  
  
  
  
Monday morning was greeted in the mansion with the same enthusiasm that it always was. Nobody really spoke, they just grunted, and gestured for people to get out of their way. As usual, the only really awake person in the kitchen that morning was Kitty, who was sorting through the mail. Rogue was sitting beside her, using her powers to feed herself her breakfast. Kitty glanced at one letter, before handing it to the person that she would now call her best friend.  
  
'Letter from school Rogue.'  
  
Rogue opened it again without lifting a finger, and then raised it telepathically to her face so she could read it, her face getting more and more horror-struck with every word.  
  
Miss Rogue,  
  
Congratulations! Due to your recent marks in school and knowledge shown in classes, you have been selected to join the Bayville High Academic team in the statewide Academic Tournament, to be televised nationally. We hope you will represent the school to a satisfactory standard, and we remind you that shirt and tie must be worn to the event. Again, Well done!  
  
Principal Kelly  
  
Rogue put the letter down, took a few calming breaths, and then screamed.  
  
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: I'm sorry about the lack of Brotherhood in this chapter, and don't worry, they'll be returning with a vengeance in the next chapter!! I'm gonna enjoy writing that one!! I was a bit worried about this story, but I've got the plot worked out in detail now. Do you see the complications for Rogue and Pietro now? Keep the reviews coming!!! Thank you to those who have already reviewed. 


	9. In which the dignity of an academic chal...

Chapter Nine  
  
'I cannot do this, I swear to you all, I cannot do this.'  
  
It was shrieks of this sort that led to Scott Summers running down the hallway in panic the following Monday. He skidded down the hall, turned a corner, and what he saw made him fall over laughing.  
  
Farther up the corridor, Kitty, Bobby and Kurt were basically trying to pry Rogue from her room. He squinted through the redness that was his eyesight, and saw to his eternal amusement that Rogue had a shirt and tie on.  
  
Scott picked himself up off the floor and headed towards the four of them, still shaking silently with laughter. Rogue took one look at his face and gave him a death glare that somehow managed to send shivers up his spine. Scott held up his hands in a gesture of peace, and Rogue stopped struggling for a moment to listen to what he had to say.  
  
'So, I take it someone is a bit reluctant to represent the school?' he asked, barely able to keep the smirk off his face.  
  
Kurt struggled to hold onto Rogue as she tried to launch herself at Scott, who was laughing all over again.  
  
Kitty stepped forward and smacked Scott on the arm, before motioning for Rogue to calm down. The other girl batted Kurt's arms away, and stood defiant in the middle of her friends, her face tinged red from fury and embarrassment.  
  
Rogue took several deep breaths to avoid hitting her friends, then spoke with a vulnerability that shocked them.  
  
'I meant what I said, I can't do It.' she said softly, her hands falling to her sides.  
  
Kitty walked over to her, straightening her tie. She, like Rogue and Jean, had made the academic team.  
  
Kitty approached Rogue cautiously, still having not forgotten her friend's display in the danger room. She placed a hand on the other girls shoulder.  
  
'Rogue, what are you talking about? You're more smarter than the rest of the team put together, don't worry about it.' she winced as Rogue threw her hands up, but instead of lashing out at her, Rogue walked away from them all, before turning around quickly, now wringing her hands in anxiety.  
  
'Its not that, it's just…' she trailed off, searching for words to explain. 'It's just that I feel like the powers that I have, that they're kind of defining who I am. I don't want to be the prettiest, cleverest girl. I don't want the attention, it's not who I am.' She finished in a small voice, looking around at her friends hopelessly.  
  
And to her surprise, they smiled. Scott spoke. 'Don't you see Rogue, it's that whole attitude to your powers and your situation that means you'll never be one of the Jeans of this world. You don't strive to be good, you're just a good person naturally, you should be who you are and be proud of it.'  
  
A tiny smile crept onto Rogue's features, lighting up her face like a sunrise. She pulled herself up straight. 'Thank you all, but I still think that this whole tournament thing is a big boring waste of time.' she said, sticking her tongue out like a little girl.  
  
'Yeah' said Kurt, his goofy grin firmly back in place, 'but it would really help your self-pride if you whipped the other school's butts!'  
  
Smiling openly now, Rogue smacked her brother playfully on the arm, before rolling her eyes and saying 'all right, you win, I'll just get my bag and then we can go.' She then turned and disappeared round the door, leaving the other three x-men in the hallway.  
  
Kitty turned her attention to Scott, raising her eyebrows at him curiously and saying 'that was a really nice thing you said about Rogue.'  
  
'I meant it, what I said.' he replied, Kitty looked at him for further explanation, but none came.  
  
'So what's going on, I mean, do you like her or something?' kitty asked, hoping for an expansion on the last answer.  
  
Scott merely ducked his head and smiled slightly, saying 'something like that.'  
  
Kitty squealed and giggled before she seemed to remember something. 'But Scott, I don't know about you and Rogue, I mean, she's like, pretty into Pietro right now..'  
  
'I know,' Scott said, cutting her off with a pain that shone through his voice and expression. 'I know' he repeated, almost to himself, before turning and walking quickly back down the corridor without another word.  
  
'Wow' said Kurt, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. 'My baby sister, all grown up and breaking hearts. They grow up so fast don't they.'  
  
Kitty tried not to giggle. 'Kurt, be serious, I mean, this thing with Scott and Pietro is like totally going to end in tears. Ooh, and then there's Jean. She is like, going to be majorly pissed when she finds out about this.'  
  
'Yeah, I mean, there's like, totally going to be a major catfight!' said Kurt, throwing his hands in the air and moving his voice up about an octave.  
  
'I know, it's gonna be, like….. wait. Kurt, were you mimicking me??' Kitty shrieked, but the fuzzy elf had already bamfed out of her reach.  
  
'All right, you are so going to pay for that one!' Kitty cried, stamping her foot on the floor before taking off in search of her friend, who was undoubtedly heading for punishment of some sort.  
  
Rogue had no idea of what was going on outside her room at that moment in time. She smiled to herself as she recalled what Scott had said to her. He was write, she wasn't like Jean, she hadn't tried to be like this, it was just who she was. She reached down onto her nightstand to pick up a spare hairclip, and noticed a white card sitting on the surface. Rogue picked up the card, curiosity clouding her features. She opened the card to find a small note there, and her eyebrows went even further up her forehead as she read what had been written there.  
  
Hey, we know you're not too keen on the tournament thing, so we thought we'd use the opportunity to have a little fun with the other teams (and your other team mates). Good luck, and don't worry, we promise you this is gonna be good!  
  
The note wasn't signed, but Rogue knew exactly who had sent it. She bit her lip to avoid laughing out loud, before grabbing her back and leaving the room. Perhaps this contest wasn't going to be so awful after all….  
  
  
  
The brotherhood were waiting in the parking lot when Scott's convertible finally pulled up. Rogue, Jean and Kitty all leaped from their seats and ran inside, being that they were running a little late. This had been largely due to the fact that Kitty had caught up with Kurt, and had unceremoniously dropped him in the swimming pool. Of course at that moment in time Kitty had entirely forgotten that fur took and incredibly long time to dry, and Bobby had been dragged in in a mass attempt to dry Kurt's hair in around 5 minutes. This hadn't really worked out either, as Bobby had gone a bit over board, and the fuzzy elf now had several singed patches on his fur.  
  
The brotherhood all came rushing over, looking at the retreating backs of the three girls in bemusement.  
  
Tabby was the first to speak. 'What the hell took you so long blue? The shows about to start!'  
  
The x-men were a little curious as to what she meant by 'show', and Lance whacked Tabby on the arm, holding a finger over his lips.  
  
Bobby laughed easily, saying 'sorry Tabby, but Kurt was drying his hair!' He ignored the death looks he received from Nightcrawler, and the confusion on the faces of the Brotherhood, and laughed again, walking into the building with the rest of the X-men.  
  
Kurt was about to follow when Tabby grabbed his arm. Unnoticed by the rest of his teammates, Kurt stayed behind to talk to the rest of the Brotherhood.  
  
'Not so fast blue, we need your help to liven up this whole thing.' Tabby said, winking at Kurt as the meaning of the word 'show' began to dawn on him. As Kurt got their meaning, an evil grin identical to that of his sort-of girlfriend spread across his face. He rubbed his hands together. 'So then, where do we start?'  
  
  
  
Jean led Kitty and Rogue through the halls, all three girls running too fast to make any sort of conversation. They got a peek of the school auditorium, and could see stands full of students and cameras, all focused on the tables that were set up on stage. Kitty saw Rogue look at the scene, and grabbed onto her arm in case she started to chicken out of the whole thing again. Ahead of them they could see a frantic Principal Kelly, who seemed to visibly sag with relief as he saw the girls approach. He had high hopes for this year's academic team, especially after looking at their test scores over recent weeks.  
  
Jean, Kitty and Rogue stopped before him, and the Principal didn't even bother to question where they had been, there just wasn't time. He gestured with his hands, and the girls found themselves being ushered through a door, and at that point there was no going back.  
  
At first Rogue thought that the light would blind her, she couldn't see past 2 feet in front of her. But as she adapted to the light, she began to feel that she might faint. Most of the school was sitting in the stands, though Rogue doubted that the tournament was the main reason for them being there. This was confirmed as a camera swept over the stands, and hundreds of students instantly began throwing themselves into the limelight.  
  
Kitty was still holding onto her arm, and Rogue was glad of it, because she knew that if she'd been alone then, she would have fled the scene immediately. It was just so, well fake, seeing everyone there all smiling and wishing other teams good luck, while people from the stands cheered at them like they really cared what happened at this contest. She looked at Jean, who seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere like a sponge soaks up water. She looked at Kitty and the two of them rolled their eyes, before bursting into laughter.  
  
They were then ushered by an old, balding man into a long set of tables labelled 'Bayville High', and Rogue sat in her named seat, taking in her glass of water and little silver buzzer. God this was going to be a long contest, especially when there was no real thinking required. The answers now just slipped out of her mouth, as though they came from some part outside of her. Weird as this was, she had to admit it was pretty cool.  
  
From her seat on the stage, she could see the X-men sitting down, and she waved at them, glad to see some people in the audience that really were there to cheer her on. There was no sign of the Brotherhood though, even though she'd seen them in the parking lot on her way in. she noticed too that Kurt was missing, and remembering the note, was entirely sure that her brother had somehow got himself involved with whatever they were planning. Rogue let out a giggle, causing Jean to look round at her in annoyance.  
  
Kitty leant across to speak to her, saying quietly 'where do you think that Lance and the others have got to? I mean, the competition is going to start in like a minute.'  
  
Rogue smiled absently at her friend. 'I somehow don't think they came here just to watch the show.'  
  
Kitty got her meaning immediately. 'They wouldn't use their powers that openly, would they? I mean, Kurt's missing too, surely he'd not be that stupid.'  
  
'We are thinking of the same person here aren't we?' Rogue asked wryly.  
  
Kitty shook her head, but was saved replying by the announcement that blared out the school speaker system.  
  
'Attention ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual, high school academic tournament! Let's meet our teams shall we?'  
  
There was a roar from the crowd, and the announcer started listing the names of the teams that had gathered on the stage.  
  
Rogue spoke over the noise, saying 'I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they're up to, won't we?'  
  
  
  
Outside the auditorium, the brotherhood and Kurt were putting the final touches to their little scheme. The boys were all surprised at just how willing Kurt was to use his powers for pranking, and Tabby found herself being quite proud with him. Lance's words were ringing in each of their heads.  
  
'All right' said Pietro, starting off down the corridor and carrying several large pieces of card in his arms. 'We all know what we have to do, lets go out and give em hell!'  
  
The rest of the group nodded their agreement, and split up. Fred moved off in the direction of the stands. Tabby started to conjure up a cherry bomb, Kurt waiting by her side. Lance moved to the door, looking in through the windows, and Todd started off in the direction of the roof.  
  
The academic tournament was about to get interesting.  
  
  
  
'Well done again, 'Rogue'. Ten points to Bayville High!' The crowd cheered madly as the team moved even further away from the opposition. Students from other schools were beginning to eye Rogue incredulously, but she found that she didn't care. She just wanted to win the tournament, and get out, and so far her policy was working. None of the other team members really needed to be there, and this was not going down well with Jean. The red head was looking increasingly sulky as the younger girl answered more and more questions correctly. Rogue was definitely becoming a problem for her.  
  
The old guy who was in charge of the tournament was gearing himself up for another question. He'd been behind the curtain just before the quiz had begun, and had emerged with a hairpiece covering his bald patch, which was so obviously fake that it was funny to see.  
  
The guy moved to centre stage, and cleared his throat. 'Right then, next question.' He started to read the card, and then stumbled, physically stumbled. The people on the stage eyed him quizzically, and the guy righted himself. He cleared his throat again, and opened his mouth.  
  
Then he fell over.  
  
His knees buckled and gave way. Almost as though the ground beneath him were playing up, Rogue thought to herself. Then she smacked herself mentally for being so stupid. The ground beneath him was playing up. She caught sight of Lance's face in the window of the doorway, and leaned back in her seat to watch what was about to happen.  
  
The poor guy tried to get up, and then fell over again, like he was drunk. The audience and cameras were halfway caught between amusement and confusion. The mood veered towards amusement though, as something shot out of nowhere and snatched his hairpiece from his head. The audience broke into laughter, and the quizmaster looked livid.  
  
'What the hell is going on here?' he said, his face beetroot red, all normal pretence forgotten.  
  
Nobody had time to answer that question, as at that point the shaking ground started to spread through the room, causing the cameramen and teachers to fall over like a group of drunks.  
  
Whilst all this was going on, Kurt and Tabby ported to just behind the tables. Crouched down, they crawled along the floor to behind one of the tables from the snootiest of the competing schools. They stopped behind the team captain, and Tabby aimed her cherry bomb at the offending student.  
  
Nobody in front of the curtain had any knowledge of this however, until the student was sent flying several feet into the air, shrieking and clutching in bottom in a most peculiar manner. She landed quite a way in front of the table, and picked herself up to find that the back half of her skirt was now missing. The girl ran away screaming, and Kurt and Tabby gave each over high fives before porting away to join Todd in the rafters.  
  
At that point the hall felt a strong gust of wind blow through the building, and blinked to find that the school tables had been, redecorated with some rather interesting moderations made to the school names. Letters were now on the tables, spelling out in giant letters.  
  
KELLY HAS PINK PANTIES!  
  
The principal stood up in fury at this point. But this only served to prove the point of the message, as after another gust of wind, Principal Kelly was found standing on national television, with the pink panties on view for the entire world to see. The principal was not happy.  
  
The chaos that now consumed the hall was brought to breaking point by the piece de resistance of the Brotherhood's plan, as the ceiling sprinkler system was activated, soaking the entire hall and causing steam to come out of the principals ears.  
  
'When I find out who did this….' He said, trailing off as he caught sight of the camera crew, still filming the pandemonium in between their laughter. He stormed up to the crew and yanked the video from the camera. The guy behind the lens shouted in protest, but the principal wasn't listening, he stormed out of the hall in fury and shock, and the school, broke in to laughter.  
  
Up on the stage, Rogue and Kitty were laughing themselves hoarse. Jean however, didn't seem to find this funny. She stood up and turned furiously to Rogue.  
  
'I don't see why you find this so funny. They could get into real trouble for revealing their powers. Though you were probably in on this weren't you?'  
  
Rogue looked at her with disdain, causing Jean to almost shake with fury. 'I don't know why you're even here. We all know you're only clever because of your psychic powers.' She hissed.  
  
Rogue stood up, flicked her eyes towards Jean, and sent her chair flying backwards, causing the older girl to end up in an undignified heap on the floor. 'Well Jean,' she said, smiling sweetly down at her, 'I guess that explains your grades in school then!'  
  
She took Kitty's arm, and laughing together, the girls left the now destroyed tournament.  
  
  
  
Coming out the door, they could see the Brotherhood and the X-men waiting at the entrance to the school. As they came within earshot, they could hear Fred say 'Yep, took it from the camera and replaced it, just like you said.' before handing a black cassette over to a laughing Lance. The two girls approached the group and tried to look disapproving, but failed miserably. The group collapsed with laughter, contemplating the ruins of the school event they had just destroyed. The tournament had been a lot more fun than Rogue had thought it would be.  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: I'm sooooo sorry that this chapter took so long to get up, I guess I've just been really busy, but I'll try and get the next chapter out soon to make up for it. I'm also sorry that this chapter lacked any real plot. I just thought that, as the story is about to get more serious and heavy, it would be quite fun to have a little interlude between it, you may see that happen again sometime. So I promise, next chapter it's on with the story, really!!! Oh, and thank you again so much for reviewing my writing, it inspires me to work, and to try and live up to the stuff you say. Thank you all, till next chapter!!! 


	10. In which volleyball is played

1 Chapter ten  
  
After the disaster of the academic tournament, Principal Kelly had been forced to seek two weeks of full time therapy, and Bayville High had been put on the map as one of the most chaotic schools in the country. The tape that Fred had swiped from the cameramen had been sold to a local TV station, and had soon made national news. By that evening Principal Kelly and his pink panties were famous all over America.  
  
Rogue too, had gotten some of the limelight. Before the Brotherhood had, interrupted the competition, the camera had managed to pick up her amazing display in answering all the questions, and as Pietro pointed out with a smile, she didn't look bad at all on camera.  
  
Of course, the extra attention was not pleasing at all to Rogue, but she was soon able to forget her sorrows when she, Kitty and Kurt went out with the Brotherhood that evening, to celebrate their pulling off one of the greatest High school pranks ever recorded.  
  
They were sitting in the pizza place, Rogue with her head resting on Pietro's chest, too tired to be paying to much attention to anything at all, and Pietro just happy to be close to her. Kurt and Tabby were over by the pool table; Kurt making sure nobody was looking before trying to pot a ball with his tail. Fred, Todd and Lance were all talking to Kitty, who, if Rogue listened closely enough, was agreeing to tutor them in algebra.  
  
Rogue swatted her hand in a feeble attempt to attract her friend's attention. Kitty looked over and smiled at her, as Rogue attempted to warn her.  
  
'Don' let em get you to doit, they goof offs.' She said, as the three boys threw her playful glares.  
  
Pietro laughed softly and kissed her forehead. 'Wakey wakey Rogue'. He said, laughing again as she blearily rubbed her eyes and tried to get up, ending up on the floor. Rogue shook herself and climbed up, now much more awake, and also much more embarrassed.  
  
'Sorry,' she said sheepishly, 'I'm awake now.'  
  
'Good' Lance said, leaning forwards to include everyone at the table in the conversation. 'Because there's something we wanted to talk to you about.'  
  
Rogue raised an eyebrow slightly, quite curious to know why Lance looked so serious all of a sudden.  
  
'Well Rogue, you know we had that talk a while ago, about you leaving the X-men..' Lance said, trailing off as Kitty let out an indignant cry.  
  
'You were going to leave us again? And you didn't tell me? What about Kurt, your brother? And me and Bobby and Scott, we're your friends!' she said, throwing a hurt look in the girls direction.  
  
'Calm down Kitty, I told them I couldn't leave right then, because I had friends and a brother, it just didn't seem appropriate to tell you guys'. Rogue said patiently, causing Kitty to look hurt, but to let out a 'humph', as she folded her arms.  
  
'Anyway' Lance continued, looking at his girlfriend with an amused glint in his eye. 'We wanted to remind you about that offer.'  
  
Rogue looked pained. 'I told you before Lance, I can't leave my brother or my friends, even if the professor and me don't get on. Maybe, maybe sometime soon, but not now.' She said, pleading at him with her eyes.  
  
'Yeah, but what if we changed the offer slightly' Todd said, again attracting her curiosity.  
  
'What do you mean?' Rogue asked cautiously.  
  
'We were going to say, what if Kitty and Kurt came with you.' Lance said, glaring at Todd as though he had challenged his leadership rights.  
  
Both Rogue and Kitty looked shocked and surprised, and behind Rogue, Pietro crossed his fingers tightly and hoped that this turn in events would change her answer. He wanted so much to be around Rogue as much as possible, and her living with them again would be his idea of heaven. And he'd worked with her brother today; Kurt was good fun really, always up for a laugh. Kitty was all right, and really having them all there would be a good thing for the brotherhood. It all depended on their answer though.  
  
Kitty was the first to speak, she looked almost fearful.  
  
'Do you mean, leave the institute? Leave the professor?' she said timidly.  
  
Lance nodded, and Kitty began to shake her head. 'But, he's done so much for me..' she was interrupted as Rogue snorted. Kitty looked at her questioningly.  
  
'I'd gladly leave if it was just the professor there.' She said, a storm beginning to form in her eyes that made everyone round the table just a little bit fearful of her.  
  
'Why though Rogue? You still never told me what went on with you two.' Kitty said, still puzzled over her friends change in attitude towards the Professor.  
  
Rogue took a deep breath. Now was the time to tell them all what had happened that day when she had found out about her powers. She had tried to hold the information back from them, but she knew, deep down, that if she wanted them to believe her about the Professor being dangerous, then she would have to tell them about what happened.  
  
So she did. She told them of her power surge, of Mystique revealing herself as her mother. She talked about the necklace that she was given, and the fact that the Professor had never told her about all of this. She finished by telling them of her mother's warning, and gave them all a few seconds for the information to sink in.  
  
Most people round the table looked like they'd just been caught in a hurricane. Lance alone looked unsurprised, Rogue had told him the whole story before, and he'd been incredibly supportive about it.  
  
'But,' Kitty said, finally finding her tongue. 'If Mystique said it, maybe she's just trying to turn you against the Professor, I mean you're so powerful.. Maybe she's working for Magneto.'  
  
'No', Rogue said firmly, 'she wouldn't lie about that. She cares about Kurt, and me in her own twisted way, and she wants to protect us. And there's something else. I looked into the Professors mind, when he saw me in his office, and there's something in there, something almost evil.' She finished, unsure of what else to say.  
  
The news that the Professor might be evil didn't really shock the Brotherhood. Pietro put his arms round Rogue's shoulders and held her close. Kitty however, looked scandalised.  
  
'But the Professor cannot be evil. He took us in, he's teaching us how to control our powers, to use them for good.'  
  
'And he also controls us as well.' Rogue finished for her, then explained. 'Look, the Professor has the power to decide how fast our powers develop, and what we use them for. Think about what happens if we use our powers without telling him, we get punished, we get told to 'control our powers'. But he's really the one controlling the powers, and that's why he didn't tell me about who I really am. He knew he wouldn't be able to control my power, and he wouldn't be able to contain it. If I hadn't found out from Mystique, I might never have known I had these powers, or that I could touch.' She finished, and Pietro held her even closer.  
  
Kitty began to nod slowly, as if she were beginning to come to terms with what Rogue had said.  
  
'Please Kit' Lance pleaded with her. 'The guy will be trouble, just come with us, we'll manage together.'  
  
'No, not now'.  
  
It was Rogue that had spoken, her face sad but firmly set. The Brotherhood looked aghast.  
  
'We can't. Things down at the mansion have changed. There are good people in there, and they need to be warned as well. They need a chance to get out too, but I need time to convince them.' She said simply.  
  
'And is Summers one of these good people?' Lance asked, a slight frown appearing on his face. Pietro said nothing, but she felt his hold on her loosen slightly, like water trickling through her hands.  
  
She met Lance head on. 'Yes he is. He's stuck up, but he's not evil, and he doesn't deserve to be treated like that.' she spoke firmly, and lance was silent for a few moments before he finally nodded quickly, an unspoken understanding formed between them.  
  
Rogue looked round at them all. 'It's going to happen soon, we're going to have to make a choice, unite together, X-men and Brotherhood, and live as young people trying to make our mark on the world, or stay as we are, and drown in the world we already live in. we'll come and join you soon guys, but only if you're willing to accept us.'  
  
The rest of the table nodded mutely, all shocked by just how eloquent Rogue had become. Even Pietro couldn't argue with her, even about the Scott Summers aspect. He'd never been this scared about losing a girl before, and knew more and more each day, that he was falling in love with Rogue. They had to stay together, or he'd go crazy.  
  
Rogue seemed to sense what he was thinking. She knew Pietro was insecure about her and other guys, even though they weren't officially going out. But was he right about her and Scott? Was there something there? She pushed the thoughts out of her head as she leaned in and kissed quicksilver softly on his jawbone, and whispered good night in his ear. She filled the kiss with all the tenderness she possessed, and Pietro was reduced to a gooey lump on the floor.  
  
Rogue smiled as she got up. She waved to the rest of the Brotherhood as Kitty kissed Lance goodnight, and the two girls left the pizza parlour. The four boys sat around the table, absolutely exhausted, as Kurt and Tabby came bounding over.  
  
'So' Kurt grinned, his arm round Tabby's shoulders 'did we miss anything?'  
  
  
  
Rogue and Kitty made it back to the mansion about thirty seconds before curfew, laughing at the disappointed look on Logan's face as he saw them enter the mansion. Both girls were too tired to really stay up, and as Kitty won the battle for the bathroom, Rogue was forced to leave for the shower room on the other side of the building. She checked she had everything as she was walking down the hallway, and didn't even notice Scott was there until she walked right into him.  
  
The force wasn't very big, but both teenagers were startled to see the other standing there. There was a pause, and then Scott said.  
  
'Congratulations on the tournament today, even if it was eventually called off.' He said, knowing exactly who was responsible for the chaos. He even suspected that Kurt may have been involved, but he wasn't going to report him to Professor Xavier. In all honesty, Scott felt recently, that the less he had to do with the Prof the better. The man had always hidden things from them before, and Scott had always accepted that it was for his own good. But lately, well, the guy had just been a little strange. It crept him out.  
  
'Thank you,' Rogue said quietly, stirring him from his thoughts. She opened her mouth slightly, hovering on the edge of saying something, before she continued. 'And thank you again, for saying that stuff you did this morning.'  
  
Scott raised his eyes to her face hopefully, and had no idea what was hidden behind it. 'Hey, I was just trying to make you feel better about wearing a tie!' he said, laughing away the awkwardness.  
  
Rogue joined in, her giggling ringing like bells throughout the corridor. 'Well, you did more than that; you reminded me who I was. I'm so caught up in all these changes, I guess I'd almost forgotten.' She said, not giving him any hint as to what she meant by that.  
  
Scott nodded, pretending that he understood her, when he knew he wasn't even close. Rogue was a complete mystery to him, and still he couldn't get enough of her. He was beginning to believe that he was in love with her. Which wasn't good, being that he was pretty sure Pietro Maximoff felt the same way.  
  
Scott chanced another glance at the object of his affections, who looked just as deep in thought as he was. Scott managed to mumble his good nights, and Rogue, holding up her wash things by means of explanation, took of down the hall.  
  
Scott collapsed against the wall, and wondered what the hell he was going to do.  
  
  
  
The next day, school had been called off, due to extensive damage in the auditorium from the sprinkler system, and the absence of a principal. The news was broken over the radio that morning, to much applause amongst the X-men. Scott looked around, an idea forming in his head.  
  
'Hey' he said, looking around at the others. 'What do you say we take the convertible and the jeep, and head to the beach for the day?'  
  
The suggestion was met with enthusiastic response from all round the table, and Scott smiled. Whatever problems his infatuation with Rogue had caused, she certainly had helped him try and get rid of his 'stuck up' image. He met her eyes across the table and she smiled, as though she too had been thinking that he'd loosened up recently.  
  
After everyone had agreed, and Logan had grudgingly Okayed the trip, the x-men left the table to grab their stuff, all except for Jean, who got up from the table and headed for the Professors study. Rogue and Scott followed her, Scott calling after her.  
  
'Jean, aren't you coming?' he asked, a little surprised. Sure they hadn't really been getting on recently, but Jean was his oldest friend, he didn't want to stop being friends with her entirely.  
  
Jean stared at him for a moment, and at that point Scott had a funny feeling she might have been reading his mind. She smiled slowly and shook her head. Scott shrugged and went to fetch his pack. He noticed that Rogue still hadn't gone upstairs.  
  
'Don't' tell me you're not going.' He groaned, and Rogue grinned, waved her hand, and a fully packed bag came flying down the stairs.  
  
'Ready!' she said, smiling sweetly, as Scott rolled his eyes and began to climb the stairs.  
  
Jean practically ran to the Professors study.  
  
  
  
Charles Xavier was very tired. He had never stretched his incredible mind so very far, and the effects were rather taxing on him. Rogue had undergone several dosages of the poison he and Jean had created, and still he was unable to penetrate the barriers she had created around her mind. It was just so frustrating; having a power and not being able to use it on the person it was most need for.  
  
The door flew open, and Jean came storming in, causing the Professor to smile. True, Scott had always been his favourite recruit, owing to his position as deputy, but he'd always had a soft spot for Jean too, as she was a fellow telepath, and he had big hopes for the two of them. But Rogue was causing trouble in that area too, she was beginning to make Scott suspicious of him, he could see it. And she was creating problems between Scott and Jean, and the Professor greatly disapproved of that. That young lady thought she could take Jean's place, just because she had some psychic ability. She thought she could take the x-men away from him, that she could take Scott away from him and Jean. All the points added up to one thing. Rogue needed to be gotten rid of, it simply wasn't enough anymore that she lost some of her power; she was just too much trouble.  
  
Jean waited until the Professor was through with whatever he was thinking about before she spoke, and when she did it was with a shaky voice.  
  
'Professor, the poison, it's having no effect at all. She can still use the telekonisis flawlessly, she..'  
  
'That is why we must increase the strength and dosage Jean.' The Professor said, cutting her off. It was important that they dealt with Rogue as quickly as possible, before she became too big a power.  
  
'I feel though' he said, touching his chin lightly, and feeling a small layer of stubble there. It had been years since he'd had stubble. 'I feel that that alone is not enough, we must make plans to deal with Rogue.' He said, beckoning Jean forward as he outlined his carefully constructed plan to her. Jean listened carefully, and a part of her was appalled by what she heard.  
  
'It is necessary Jean, do get rid of Rogue, don't you agree?'  
  
Jean didn't hesitate for even a second before she agreed.  
  
  
  
The X-men were lucky enough to catch the beach on a glorious day. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky, and the water was warm and crystal clear. Once you got over the salty aroma that floated in the air, and the obvious presence of salt in the sandwiches, it really wasn't bad at all. That's what Rogue thought as she stretched out luxuriously on her towel, marvelling again at how wonderful it felt to expose her skin to the sunshine. The boys were engaged in a rather interesting game of volleyball, made interesting by Kurt's unusual tactics.  
  
Rogue and Kitty laughed as Evan tried again to explain to Kurt that you couldn't teleport higher up to get a better aim at the other team, and that knocking people over wasn't the actual point of volley ball.  
  
Kitty surveyed Rogue from behind her sunglasses. 'Wow, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were, like, beginning to get a tan!' she said, giggling as Rogue put on an outraged expression.  
  
'Me, Rogue? Get a tan? Never!!' she exclaimed, before having to duck as Kurt sent the volleyball flying in her direction, followed by a cry from Evan.  
  
'The point isn't to hit the spectators either Kurt.'  
  
The elf materialised behind the girls, picked up the ball, laughed at the sandy patch on his sister's back and said 'I know!'  
  
Rogue couldn't even manage half a glare before she broke into laughter again. It felt good, she couldn't remember laughing as much as she had in the last week or so.  
  
The X-men were disturbed then by a group of figures making their way up the beach, as they came into focus, the outline of Fred could easily be distinguished. Rogue tensed up, remembering what she had said to them the night before, would they do what she'd asked them to?  
  
Lance led the group over to them, and smiled reassuringly at Rogue, before Evan stepped up to Pietro, glaring. Stupid Evan, Rogue thought angrily, he needs to forget about the rivalries.  
  
Lance however, didn't pay any attention to them; his eyes were locked on Scott, who walked right up to them. There was something different about the way in which they stared each other out, it wasn't so much confrontational, and it was more as though they were working out which side each was really on.  
  
From behind Scott, Bobby spoke up, rather bravely. 'What are you guys doing here?'  
  
It was Tabby who answered, laughter still ringing in her voice. 'It was Lance, he seems to have a homing radar for Kitty!' she moved to run away, but was surprised to see that Lance didn't move. Kitty however, blushed furiously.  
  
Something changed in Scott's face, and his eyes narrowed. He turned away from Lance, and walked several feet away down the beach. He picked up something, and again faced avalanche, this time with the volleyball in his arms, and a small smile creeping up the corners of his mouth.  
  
'Fancy a game?' he said impassively, and Lance smiled back.  
  
'Sure'.  
  
The rest of the X-men let out the breath they'd been holding, and all seemed to have a new lease of pent up energy, as everyone agreed to join in the game, though Kurt was told that if he used his powers he would have to sit in a sin bin for the remainder of the game. Tabby even went so far as to draw him a sin bin in the sand, labelling it with a stick, writing 'Kurt's little sin bin, a place where all the naughty elves go.'  
  
Evan looked at Pietro from the other side of the net, saying 'this is going to be sweet, I'm gonna cream you Maximoff!'  
  
Pietro caught Rogue's eye before he replied.  
  
'Sure Daniels, whatever you say.'  
  
  
  
It was one of the best days both groups had had in a long time, with everybody rather glad that they had decided to do battle on the court instead of with fists like all the other times. And they had fun, without having to think about insults, or being tensed and ready for a fight all the time. Rogue was ecstatic.  
  
The sun was beginning to set as Pietro took her hand and literally whisked her away. He stopped with Rogue in his arms, and she looked around her to find that they were alone, and staring out at the sun casting shadows on the ocean waves. Rogue smiled and sank into his embrace.  
  
'It's been a good day,' she murmured against his chest, and he stroked her hair gently, both listening to the gently lapping of the tides, glad to find moments like these that they wanted to last forever.  
  
Rogue let go and looked up into his face, before pulling him down towards her, giving him a kiss that thanked him more than words could say for how he controlled himself on the beach. She broke the kiss many seconds later, and Pietro backed away a little, his face a little dazed.  
  
'This day just got better.' He said, and Rogue smirked, sinking again into his arms, settling down to listen to the sea.  
  
'Promise me' Pietro said, 'promise me you'll never leave me, without an explanation. I'd go crazy without you.'  
  
Rogue, sighed her eyes half closed. 'I promise you Pietro, never.'  
  
They stayed like that until the moon took over the suns watch, and the waves turned dark before them.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are the property of Marvel and the WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: See, told you I'd get it up quickly! Well, sometime soon we're going to see just what Professor X's dastardly plan is, and things are going to get very rocky for the mutants. Ah well, they'll pull through, I promise you. Well, most of them anyway. Thank you all for reviewing, please keep it up, I need them for inspiration! 


	11. In which a dastardly plan is put into ac...

Chapter 11  
  
The day at the beach was a landmark event for the young mutants, the first time ever that they'd all been able to get along with one another. Even the younger X-men had joined in the game, once they'd gotten over their fear of the brotherhood. Most people weren't really surprised by the change in attitude, what they were probably shocked by was how easy it was to get along with the other side of mutants if you forgot your prejudices. Evan was perhaps an exception to this, but he seemed happy enough to take out his frustration at Pietro on the volleyball court.  
  
Rogue really couldn't remember being this happy. She had friends, and they were getting along, playing together just like normal teenagers. She had a family now, all be it a bizarre one. And she had Pietro. And Scott.  
  
And there was her problem.  
  
Try as Rogue could, she couldn't find the heart to tell Scott that Pietro was whom she wanted to be with. This made her question her feelings for Scott, and made her wander if Pietro was the one she should have the talk with. Yet when she thought about letting quicksilver go, she felt a pain in her chest the was so strong she had to take a few moments to get over it, and this just put her back where she had started. Rogue knew she would have to do something about it all, she already felt like a complete bitch for leading the two of them on for this long. True, she had never actually kissed Scott, though she had done nothing to push him away. Why not?  
  
After coming back from the beach, Rogue bade the rest of the X-men goodnight and said that she had a headache and needed to sleep. In truth she collapsed onto her bed with her eyes wide open, staring up at the darkened ceiling of her room as if it held all the secrets of the universe. She couldn't decide, it was just too damn hard. Every time she resolved to do something, she felt some sort of emotion that took her right back to where she had started.  
  
It was about half an hour later when Rogue did decide a course of action; she would talk to Lance about it. She reached for the phone and dialled the number that she knew so well, feeling a little guilty that she kept calling on Lance to sort out her problems. She would of course go to Kurt, but somehow she felt his advice might be a little less practical than was required.  
  
The phone rang twice before Fred answered it. 'Hey, who's calling?' he asked.  
  
'Hi Fred' Rogue replied, knowing exactly who it was just from the tone of voice. Fred's response was automatic. He put the phone down and began to yell for Pietro, but Rogue cut him off before the second syllable could escape his mouth.  
  
'No Fred, actually I wanted to talk to Lance.' She said, almost imagining the confused look that had crossed her friends face.  
  
In the Brotherhood house, Fred shrugged his shoulders and threw the phone to Lance, who had been listening from the entrance to the kitchen. Lance held the phone to his ear with one hand as he tried to open the boxes from the pizza takeaway with the other. He didn't even say hi, as he knew it was Rogue on the phone from what he'd heard before.  
  
'What's up Rogue?'  
  
Her voice was quiet, with a little hint of a plea in it. 'I need to talk to you, in person. I sort of have a problem I need your help with. And you can't tell Pietro about it.'  
  
Lance couldn't stop himself agreeing to meet her. He had absolutely no idea how he had suddenly become so protective of Rogue, it really wasn't in his nature to behave in such a brotherly way.  
  
That, he supposed as he said goodbye to the guys and started up the car, was before he met the X-men.  
  
  
  
Rogue put the phone down with an expression of satisfaction on her face. As guilty as she felt for getting Lance's continued help with her problems, it felt good to know there was someone like that she could go to.  
  
She took a final swig of water from her bedside table, failing to notice the slight difference in taste that was now present, and glanced back at her now empty bed, and then remembered something. Putting a hand to the necklace that was permanently worn round her neck, she split herself into two people, just as Multiple would accidentally do. Being fully in control of this power, she commanded her double to lie in the bed, and looked back at it with a devious smile as she slipped silently out of the mansion grounds.  
  
If Rogue had looked a little more around the grounds she was escaping, she would realise that she was by no means the only person who was moving around that night. For on the other side of the fence, a silver blur was climbing the walls to get into the institute. In the garage of the mansion, two figures were preparing for a little trip. One got into the car, as the other glided silently back into the mansion to instigate the next part of his plan. And following him was another figure, whose shadows changed continuously to hide her true appearance.  
  
  
  
Pietro swept into the X-men mansion in his usual silver blur. He did not, however, go to Rogue's bedroom as she usually did. Instead he ran round the edge of the building, until he saw the person he was looking for, standing near the window and looking out with an unreadable expression on their face.  
  
Scott was shocked to see Pietro standing at his door when he opened it, as he was the root of the problem he had spent the last hour wandering about.  
  
The silver haired boy looked at him with a neutral expression. 'Can I come in?'  
  
  
  
Jean looked one last time at the map that was on the empty front seat of her car, before giving a satisfied nod and heading off down a road leading to a familiar building. The professor would have been proud of her. She let herself in the door by breaking the lock with her power, and headed apprehensively for the most secured area of the building, sending a message back to her mentor to say that their plan would soon be in motion.  
  
  
  
The professor gave a little nod before looking round at his students, who were gathered around the dinner table, finishing off the dregs of Storms meal. Neither Scott nor Rogue was present, which made him even more pleased. He cleared his throat to secure their attention.  
  
'I need a couple of you to run a little errand for me. There's a man on the other side of town who is a dear friend of mine. However, he is not a mutant and has no idea of how to get to the mansion. I need a couple of you to run over there and pick him up, being as Storm and Logan are a bit busy at the moment.'  
  
From the greenhouse, a loud clap of thunder and the sound of rain could be heard, signifying just where Storm was. Nobody wanted to guess what Wolverine was up to at that moment.  
  
Several of the new recruits stuck up their hands, eager to please their new professor, who smiled indulgently at them.  
  
'Bobby, could you and Rahne go over and pick him up. Take the bikes, he'll have a car I'm sure, so you only have to ride the way there.'  
  
Bobby's chest swelled with pride at being signalled out. He and Rahne grabbed their coats and headed towards the door. The professor called to them as they were leaving.  
  
'Don't be out too late, it's going to get very dark soon.' He turned back to the other teenagers, the smile on his face wider than ever. The bug in the corner of the room followed him as he left, wondering what the hell he was up to.  
  
  
  
'…So you see Lance. I don't know what to do; I have to let go of one of them. But Scott is so warm and supportive, and Pietro is, I don't know how to describe it. It feels as though, as though if I knew I'd never see him again, I'd never want to see anyone again ever, as though I would rather die than lose him. And yet I can't find it in myself to tell Scott that. Which means I must have feelings for him too…'  
  
  
  
'Or that you don't want to hurt him because he is your friend.' Lance suggested softly, causing Rouge to give him a pained expression. Lance took her hand and poke gently.  
  
'Look, I'm not saying go for Pietro because he's my best friend, I mean Scott has actually turned into an all right guy. But looking at the two of you together, there's just something there that you don't see everyday. Like you would sacrifice yourselves for the other in a heartbeat. And besides, I don't know about Scott, but Pietro is in love with you.'  
  
Rogue said nothing, she just stared out at the grass. Finally she turned back to Lance, completely changing the subject.  
  
'Do you and Kitty have that whole 'sacrifice thing'?' she asked, smiling as he turned away and looked down.  
  
'I, well I guess so.' He said, and Rogue laughed as spots of red began to creep onto his face. Lance buried his head in his hands and groaned, and Rogue giggled even more, before patting him on the back.  
  
'Say no more Lance, I understand. And I shan't tell Kitty, mainly because I don't want the mansion to fall down from the shrieks that would inevitably follow my telling her.'  
  
At this Lance joined in her laughter, before looking at her seriously, concern in his eyes.  
  
'Seriously though, are you all right now?' he asked cautiously.  
  
Rogue looked at him, resolve now written in every part of her face. 'Yeah, thank you. I know what I have to do now. I've made a decision.'  
  
  
  
There was a tense silence in Scott Summers room at that point. Pietro had just phrased the situation to Scott, quoting word for word the speech he had practised in his head the 2 minutes it had taken him to get to the mansion. They were both in love with Rogue, and she wanted them to be friends. What were they going to do about it?  
  
Scott ran a hand over his face in a tired manner, as though he had asked the question himself a hundred times before. Both boys had seen just how happy Rogue had looked at the beach, how pleased she was that Brotherhood and X-men were getting along. And both boys wanted to see her happy. Perhaps there lay their solution.  
  
'Look' Scott said slowly. 'There's only one thing that we can do, we have to let Rogue make a decision, and we have to respect it when she does. If we want her to be happy, that's the only thing we can do.'  
  
The other boy nodded slightly in agreement, but Scott had caught the pained look that had crept into his eyes when he had mentioned Rogue 'deciding', and he knew what was going through Pietro's head. He was contemplating what would happen if Rogue chose not to be with him. And Scott could see that that scenario was tearing him apart. He bowed his head, and wondered what he would feel if Rogue rejected him. The idea that she would stay with Pietro just didn't make sense, he and Rogue were perfect together, and they got on so well. Yet he could tell that Pietro was in love with her. Scott was now more confused than he'd been before Pietro arrived.  
  
Quicksilver looked at him and spoke again. 'What do we do? Do we keep being friendly towards one another? Not that we were that friendly before' he added.  
  
Scott was unsure how to answer this question. He had never had a particular problem with Pietro Maximoff, other than him being a member of the Brotherhood. Yet he had no real desire to become all friendly with him either.  
  
It was Pietro that answered his own question. 'I think, if it makes Rogue happy, we should do it.' he paused, 'whatever her decision.'  
  
Scott didn't think he could find a better response than to nod, and the boys were again left in silence.  
  
  
  
Jean ducked as another security guard walked past. She focused her power, and caused a door up the hallway to slam open, causing the man who was walking in her direction to stop and ran back the way he had come. She was entirely intent upon completing her mission.  
  
Finally, about half an hour after entering the building, Jean found her way into the most secure room, and in the centre, surrounded by a huge glass tank, was Juggernaut. The Professor's half brother.  
  
Jean walked forward, feeling more nervous than ever before. She had seen the damage that Juggernaut had caused the last time he was let loose. Though, she supposed as she gathered herself together, this time her and the professor were in control. She held in her hand a device that Xavier had made since placing Juggernaut back in captivity; it allowed them to control him and his movements once it was placed on his helmet, by a particularly strong blast of what the professor liked to call 'psychic radiation'. Jean really didn't care how it happened, as long as it worked.  
  
She took a deep breath, and pressed the button that would release the gigantic mutant from his prison. The professor had told her that she would have only a few seconds to place the device on his helmet before he became fully aware of his surroundings and began to cause some damage. But Jean was ready; she would do what it takes to get rid of Rogue, and to bring Scott back.  
  
The glass had fully lifted now; the light was giving the whole room an almost otherworldly glow. It was time. Jean raised the small device with her mind, and sent it flying towards Juggernaut, who was looking around the room, beginning to realise just where it was he was. The chip like object snapped onto the side of his metal helmet, and Juggernaut let out a cry of surprised agony as the effects of the device began to kick in. he sank to his knees and the floor shook, but then he stopped, as docile as he had ever been.  
  
Jean smiled and walked right over to him, her previous fear completely forgotten. Juggernaut did nothing to harm her, and this caused a relieved smile to spread across the face of the red head. She put a hand to her forehead, and silently gave her weapon his instructions. She then slipped back into her car and left Juggernaut to do his work.  
  
The rest of the X-men were currently engaged in the watching of the television, Evan especially, being that it was his night to watch what he wanted, and naturally he had chosen sports. The younger members of the team were a little scared to see him jump up and down and yell at the screen in a most disturbing manner. Nobody really noticed when Rogue popped out of nowhere and sat down to join them. Kitty motioned for her to join her, and the two of them sat giggling, as Evan got angrier and angrier.  
  
Heads did turn however, as Scott and Pietro came down the stairs together. Most the X-men were shocked to see Pietro walking about in the mansion as if he was one of them, but to see Scott with him was absolutely shocking. Even Rogue, Kurt and Kitty looked a little surprised to see the two of them together and not wanting to rip out each others throats, particularly as they were rivals for Rogue's affections. The girl sprang up to meet them both, an anxious look in her eyes.  
  
'Look, both of you. I really need to talk to you. I've been doing a lot of thinking..'  
  
Rogue was cut off by Jean running into the room in a total state of panic. 'Turn on the news!' she cried.  
  
Kurt ripped the remote control from Evan, who let out a cry of protest. He switched the channel to the news, and the teens all stared in horror at what they saw.  
  
The picture showed Juggernaut moving wildly through the streets, trashing almost everything in view. Things were brought to an even higher state of panic in the house when Kitty read the street sign behind the chaos.  
  
'Oh my god!' she shrieked. 'Like that's where Bobby and Rahne went!'  
  
The X-men all began talking and shouting at once, Pietro joining in. rogue's face had looked stricken when she had heard Bobby's name.  
  
This was the situation that Professor Xavier found his students' in. he held up his hand for silence, and they obeyed instantly, wanting for someone to tell them what to do. Xavier noted Pietro's presence, and put it down to him visiting Rogue.  
  
'Before anyone explains, I have heard the radio myself. We need to assemble a team immediately to subdue Juggernaut and to retrieve out students.  
  
Scott immediately stepped into his organisational mode, but he was stopped by Rogue's interrupting him.  
  
'I'll go. I can stop him.' she spoke as though there would be no acceptable response to dissuade her from going. The Professor looked at her long and hard, before he nodded his consent. Rogue glanced at her friends before she left the house, and an empty silence followed her departure. This was broken only when Xavier motioned for Jean to follow him into his office to discuss what she had seen or heard. They shut the door with a soft sound, causing the built up tension in the room to shatter.  
  
Kurt was beside himself. 'What was he thinking, letting her go?' she's my little sister, something might happen to her, there'll be nobody to help her, she..' he was cut off by Kitty putting a hand over his mouth. The rest of the room was shocked; nobody had ever seen Kurt this upset before.  
  
Pietro too was what one could call worried. Though panicked would probably have been a better word. Rogue had gone to fight Juggernaut. Alone. Unarmed. Well not exactly unarmed, he reasoned. Rogue had proven in times past that she could look after herself perfectly well. But just staying at home waiting whilst she was out fighting alone? He felt completely helpless. But then, he reasoned again, he wasn't an X-men, and he never followed orders.  
  
He looked round at the others, especially at Kurt. 'I'm going to help her. Don't worry Elf, I'll look after her.' He didn't let Kitty get her argument out before he had sped out the door, practically blowing the door of the mansion off of its hinges.  
  
Despite Pietro's promise, Kurt didn't really look that consoled. Kitty sat down with him and hugged him, and Scott came over too, a darkness in his eyes that Kitty had never seen before. 'She'll be all right' he said, trying to convince everybody including himself. 'Remember what she did in the danger room? She could take out Juggernaut any day.'  
  
The rest of the X-men nodded, and they sat in silence again, knowing that there was nothing left to do now but wait.  
  
  
  
Professor Xavier closed the door behind him as Jean walked into his office. He was completely unaware of the fact that the bug that had followed him for sometime now had again slipped into his office, listening intently to what he was saying.  
  
'You put the chip on him Jean?' he asked, even though he knew that all must have gone as planned. She nodded, and the professor let the triumph begin to sink in.  
  
He looked at his best student, and was surprised to see that she was clearly still worried by something. 'Jean, what is the matter?'  
  
She looked at him worriedly. 'Its just that, what if Rogue doesn't use her psychic powers to try and get rid of Juggernaut. All the poisoning, and the planning, it will all have gone to waste. We'll have accomplished nothing.' She hung her head.  
  
The professor tried to reassure her. 'Jean, I am convinced that Rogue will use her mind power to try and save the others, and as long as she took that last cup of water she should fail. Remember, I was right about her offering to go after them wasn't I?'  
  
Jean smiled slightly, and the professor leant back in his chair, waiting for news that their little problem had been eliminated, as the bug that had been listening slipped frantically under the door, determined to stop Rogue before it was too late.  
  
On the other side of town, Rogue was racing towards her destination. She didn't even have to think about directions, she just needed to follow the path of destruction that Juggernaut had left. She finally found what she was looking for as she turned the street corner and saw Juggernaut at the other end of the road, looming over the two terrified X-men. As she watched, Bobby tried to erect a wall of ice, but with a flick of his finger, Juggernaut shattered it into a thousand pieces. Bobby looked utterly desperate, and Juggernaut began to raise his hand again.  
  
With lightning speed, Rogue rushed forward and intercepted the giant, saying loudly 'Oh no you don't!' and calling upon super strength to fling Juggernaut across the street, throwing him into a water pump. The giant recovered instantly though, and seemed even more looming than before. He picked up the pump, and threw it back at them.  
  
Instinctively, Rogue conjured up a shield with her mind to protect the three of them, hardly even thinking about the light feeling that had suddenly come into her head. She kept the shield up, until Juggernaut began to come over for another attack. And it was then that she began to feel a little bit faint.  
  
The bug had shifted into a bird, and it was flying as fast as it could across town, all the while thinking to the fighting girl 'don't use your mind, use the necklace.' Yet she got now reply, and she doubled her pace of flight.  
  
Pietro was running faster than he'd ever done before, anxious as hell to be fighting at Rogues side. He had no idea where it was he was going, and was moving far to fast to make out the surrounding scenery. As he turned up another empty street, he let out a sigh of frustration, and continued in his quest.  
  
Rogue told the other two to scatter, and they obeyed as quickly as possible. Bobby was at the edge of the road, and Rogue yelled to him in his head, all the while feeling lighter and lighter. 'Run, Bobby run and get help. Whoever's nearest, Brotherhood or X-men, just go!' Bobby held his hands to his ears and ran as fast as he could, getting one last look of Rogue fighting to get to Rahne.  
  
The bird that was flying through the air saw a scene of smoke and destruction, and knew that she had found what she was looking for. Pointing herself downwards, she swooped to the ground to save her daughter.  
  
Rogue was getting a little worried. Something was wrong with her, every time she tried to use her mind to do something. But she could see, through her fogging vision, that Juggernaut was approaching Rahne. She saw him lift the girl up into the air as if she were lighter than a feather, and throw her down on the ground like a rejected toy.  
  
Falling onto the ground, oblivious of all that was around her, including her mother running towards her, Rogue did the only thing she could think of to save Rahne. She focused all her power and energy into one ball, and as Juggernaut moved in again, she fired a psychic wave at him, magnified by Mystiques wild scream of protest.  
  
The world went white, and then there was nothing.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Hehehe, it's a cliffhanger! Don't worry, you shouldn't have to wait too long to find out what happened. Next chapter you shall see what has become of all the people who were in the street, and peoples reactions and explanations of what happened. As ever, thank you soooooooo much for reviewing!! Keep it up!! 


	12. In which casualties are counted

1 Chapter 12  
  
  
  
After being told to get help by Rogue, Bobby had run as fast as he possibly could. He didn't want to really think about what he was leaving behind, or more importantly whom he was leaving behind. He decided after turning up about two streets, that the Brotherhood house was much nearer than the mention, and remembering Rogues shouted orders, he knew the right thing was to go to them.  
  
It took him around five minutes to get to the run down street on which Lance and the others lived, and panting, Bobby banged on the door.  
  
Lance answered, a frustrated look on his face. Pietro was gone, god knows where, and the rest of them were about to settle down to some pizza. He had to look down slightly to see the panting boy in front of him that he knew as a friend of Rogue. He was about to yell and scare the kid, when he saw the terror in his eyes. Lance tried to remember the boy's name, and came up with Bobby.  
  
'Bobby' he tried, and was pleased to get a response from the X- man. 'What are you doing here? What's wrong?' he asked, beginning to feel slightly alarmed.  
  
His questions alerted the other members of the Brotherhood, who came up behind Lance to find out what exactly was going on.  
  
Bobby struggled to regain his composure. 'Rogue… Rahne, they need help.. Juggernaut…'  
  
That was all he really needed to say. The alarmed look in Lance's eyes had now scaled up into a full state of panic, and he and the Brotherhood were marching out the door about 1 second later. Lance shouted back to Bobby for the street name, and told the boy to go in the house and recover there, waiting for them to get back. He then took into a run, not wanting to imagine what they would all find when they arrived at the scene.  
  
  
  
When Pietro arrived at the scene of the fighting, the street was very dark. The silence crept through the air, and the scene was similar to the aftermath of some terrible storm. There were pieces of dirt and debris everywhere. And then there were bodies. Four, humanlike silhouettes stood out like sleeping statues. There was no movement.  
  
With growing desperation, Pietro wandered from person to person, trying his best to work out just what had happened here only a few minutes ago. He could easily spot Juggernauts massive form, and was pretty sure that the mutant was either dead or very much unconscious. Quite near to Pietro, he could see Mystique lying prone on the road, a bruise beginning to form above her eyebrow. She seemed all right, just out cold. That left two other, smaller figures.  
  
One was a girl whom he recognised as one of the newer X- men, the one who could change into the wolf thing. She had her face down on the sidewalk, looking as though she'd been thrown into a wall or something. He knelt down at the girl's side, and gently turned her over, not wanting to hurt her anymore.  
  
He looked into her face, and felt like crying. She was dead. Gone. The youth that still clung to her features would never grow to be an adult; it was doomed to fade away over time. And he had never even known her name. Pietro took a deep, shaking breath, there was nothing he could do for her now, and he had to find Rogue.  
  
He stood up on jelly legs, trying to imagine what he would do if the same fate had befallen Rogue. He could make her out now, on the other side of the Road, sprawled out on the ground, her white streaks shining like beacons in the darkness. He ran towards her, his knees beginning to give way, and he finally collapsed beside her completely still body. He lifted her lifeless face towards him, tears finally fighting their way out of his eyes and spilling over onto his face. 'No,' he whispered hoarsely. 'No..'  
  
As he clung to her, and leant in to put his face next to hers, he felt his heart jump. He could hear breathing. It was shallow, and slight, but she was alive. With a new energy, Pietro lifted Rogue into his arms easily, and sped off down the street. He wanted desperately to take her back to the Brotherhood house, to her home. But he knew that if she were to be treated properly, she would have been taken to the institute. And he had promised Kurt. Pietro took one last look at the destroyed landscape, and sped off into the night.  
  
  
  
The road was only quiet for around two minutes, when the Brotherhood arrived, Lance in the lead. They took one, terrified look at the scene before them, and scattered to help those who had fallen, and to look for Rogue. Tabby was the first to see the body of Rahne. She was completely shocked. She and Rahne had known each other back when Tabby had been with the X-men, and now, she wasn't there anymore. The body before her had no life in it anymore. There was no laugh, no joke or funny line that could bring this person back. And it scared her to the core. Looking up she could see Lance looking around frantically for Rogue, and Todd and Fred picking up some mutant woman who she could see was still alive. Silently, Tabby picked up Rahne's body, and moved over to Lance.  
  
His eyes filled with shock and sadness when he saw what she was carrying, and he now looked even more worried for Rogue. He reached out and removed Rahne from Tabby, holding the girl to him as though she were still alive, still here. But she isn't, Tabby thought to herself numbly, she's gone.  
  
Lance signalled to the others. 'Rogue's not here, and Pietro is missing. I'm going to take, um, the girl back to the mansion and look for Rogue there. You take Mystique back to the house and let her lie down a bit. Maybe she knows something about what happened here.'  
  
He began to walk away, when Todd pointed in the direction of the fallen Juggernaut. 'What about him?'  
  
Lance shrugged, the look that had given him the label of a rebel firmly in place on his face. 'I don't really give a damn.'  
  
  
  
Pietro made it back to the Xavier mansion in record time, despite carrying Rogue with him. He cradled her unconscious body in his arms and pounded on the door, which Kitty ran to answer, leaving Scott to comfort a still panicking Kurt.  
  
Kitty took one look at Rogue's body and Pietro's face, and stepped aside for him to run in and find the hospital wing of the mansion. Nobody in the room was really sure of what had happened, all they had seen was something that had blown past them. Kitty however, walked over to Kurt and Scott, and put a hand on the blue boys shoulder.  
  
'Pietro has her. They're going down to the medical room.' She said softly, causing Kurt to leap up from where he had been sitting and run off in the direction that Pietro had gone in. kitty and Scott took off after him, Kitty especially didn't think it wise for Kurt to see his sister in the condition she was in.  
  
They raced down the steps in the direction of the medical bay, not even pausing for breath. The two X-men flung open the door to see a scene being caused in the room. Rogue had been placed on one of the spotless white beds, which caused the effect of showing just how pale her skin had gone. Kurt however, instead of focusing on his little sisters condition, was yelling at a shell shocked Pietro.  
  
'What the hell happened to her? Why didn't you stop her?' he shouted, pointing an accusing finger in Quicksilver's direction.  
  
'I wasn't fast enough to stop her!' Pietro shouted back, his face red with anger, but his eyes full of wretchedness.  
  
'Well you should have gone faster!' Kurt cried.  
  
Pietro went quite, looking down at the floor. Kitty saw something fall from his eye. He finally looked back up at Kurt. 'Don't you think I know that?' he whispered softly, the pain in his voice dimming down Kurt's anger somewhat.  
  
Kitty went up to them both. 'Don't you think this is the wrong time to be handing out blame? Rogue is still here you know, you can't just give up on her. We can save her.' She said, glaring at the pair of them as if daring them to argue. Both boys looked a tad scared, and nodded meekly. If Scott hadn't been worried out of his skin, he would have been amused.  
  
Kitty walked up to Rogue's bedside, looking to see if there was anything she could do to help her friend. She was interrupted by the voice of Charles Xavier, who walked in with a worried look on his face.  
  
'I'm afraid that the only person who can save Rogue is herself.' He said heavily, as though he felt immense guilt for sending her out alone. Nobody could see the secret smile inside his head. He looked at the confused faces of the teenagers, and continued.  
  
'Rogue is in a coma. She must have used some incredible power in her fight with Juggernaut, and my guess is that this was too much for her to physically handle. If she wakes, she will recover, but there is nothing we can do for her.'  
  
He turned to look at a stricken Pietro. 'You, young Maximoff, do you intend on becoming an X-man? Is that why you're here?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Pietro met the older mans gaze. 'No sir, but I would like to stay with Rogue, if that's possible.'  
  
The professor frowned a little. 'I don't think…'  
  
Scott interrupted him, a little surprised at his daring. 'I think he should stay. If Rogue is going to come out of this, she's going to need all of her friends around her.'  
  
The professor looked for a moment like he was going to argue, and Pietro's heart sank. But he simply nodded slightly, and silently glided out of the room. Pietro turned to look at Scott, feeling an unfamiliar sense of gratitude towards the boy in front of him. He opened his mouth to say thank you, but Scott cut him off.  
  
'Don't mention it. We need to work on brining Rogue out of her coma.' He said shortly, and Pietro agreed. The four of them were busy making plans to sit in turn at Rogues bedside, when Lance walked in, carrying the body of Rahne. He laid her down gently, and the others could instantly tell that the girl was dead. Kitty started crying, and threw herself at Lance. He put his chin on her forehead, and rocked her gently back and forth, with no pleasure or joy in his tired eyes. He acknowledged Pietro's presence, and broke away from Kitty briefly, holding her hand as he went to Rogues bedside.  
  
He could remember seeing her, just over an hour ago, and what a change she had undergone. She looked so pale, so drawn, and so damn lifeless. And he couldn't do anything to help her. He put his free hand on top of hers, and refused to draw away at the coldness he could feel there.  
  
When he broke contact, he turned to see Kurt standing before him, his eyes sadder than they had ever been before. He looked at Lance, and narrowed them slightly. 'She looked upon you as her brother too. I know she did.' He said, and Lance couldn't tell what his reaction to that was going to be, so he merely nodded his head.  
  
'We need to be there for her. Now, and in the future. As brothers.' Kurt said slowly, letting the meaning of his words sink in. and the two mutants embraced as brothers, as the room let out a collective sigh of tears that lasted long into the night.  
  
  
  
Professor Xavier moved back to his office, pausing briefly to explain the situation to the young mutants, who had all been crying since seeing Lance enter with Rahne in his arms. He noted with relief that Bobby had returned safely, and the young boy was now walking towards the medical bay with a traumatised expression on his face. He would heal in time. The professor was sorry for the loss of his student, but he knew really that it was Rogue's fault. She should have sacrificed herself for the girl. It should have been the other way round.  
  
Jean was waiting for him in the office, her face haunted. Xavier looked at her with worry. 'Are you all right Jean, don't you want to go down to the medical bay? Don't you want to see how your good work paid off?' he asked gently.  
  
Jean bowed her head even lower. 'No professor. I, I can't look. I saw her as she came in, at the door. And I can't face looking at her again.' Jean said, her voice and resolve crumbling, leaving her exposed, and letting her true self shine through. A young girl who had been guided the wrong way out of jealously and a desire to be best.  
  
'Come Jean, we achieved what we set out to do. This was all necessary.' The professor said, aware that he could be coming close to losing Jean.  
  
'We killed someone! We killed an X-man! That is a lot of things, but it isn't necessary. I feel terrible professor.' She exclaimed passionately, her conscience beginning to stir.  
  
'I will not hear you talking like that Jean. This is all Rogue's fault, you know it is.' Xavier said firmly.  
  
Jean was wavering, he could see it. Her resolve to do what was necessary was weakening. And so in desperation he did something that he had never ever done before. He reached out with his mind, and gently as possible, guided his student in the right direction.  
  
Jean felt the guilt begin to slip away, it was all so strange. She saw the meaning of the professor's words, and nodded like a schoolgirl who had just been told off by her teacher. She turned and slowly left the office, feeling emptier than she'd ever felt in her life. The professor watched her go; glad she had not suspected what he had just done. It was all necessary, they just didn't see it.  
  
  
  
Downstairs in the medical bay, Pietro had volunteered to take the first shift of watching Rogue. Lance would share Kurt's room; Pietro would sleep on the floor of Scott's room. He didn't care about the arrangements; he just wanted to be as close to Rogue as possible. The other members of the Brotherhood had all been told. They were coming over tomorrow, and were looking after Mystique. Kurt had a new worry now, Tabby had sounded completely different when he had spoken to her on the phone, as if you couldn't make her laugh if you tried. And loathed as he was to do so, he couldn't really concentrate on her at that moment, he had to look after his baby sister. He was thinking of this as he stopped at the door and spoke to Pietro, who was taking a seat at Rogue's beside.  
  
'I'm sorry, about what I said earlier.' He said, rather sheepishly, remembering how he had almost thrown Pietro into a wall. 'I guess I was a bit worked up.'  
  
Pietro gave him a hollow smile, which faded quickly. 'Don't be sorry, it was all true, what you said.' he looked hopelessly down at the girl on the bed.  
  
Kurt paused for a moment. 'If, when she wakes up, I want you to promise me that you'll make her happy.' He said, spilling out the last part quickly.  
  
Pietro looked a little confused. 'But, yeah of course I will. But doesn't Scott still….'  
  
Kurt looked like he would've have smiled at that point. 'He can't make her happy in the way she wants to be happy.' He said, and then looked down at his sister, walking slowly towards her. 'I see more than she thinks I do, you know, and I care about her. I want her to be happy, and I want you to help her.' He said, leaning down and kissing Rogue softly on the forehead.  
  
Pietro couldn't help it. 'Bloody hell Kurt, that was a bit serious wasn't it'.  
  
There was a ghost of his old grin on his face. 'I know, there's more to this crazy, partying, fuzzy elf than people give me credit for. Good night.' And with that he left, closing the door softly behind him.  
  
Pietro was alone with Rogue, he knew that. Yet, even though he could see how close they were, he felt like they were a chasm apart. He took her hands gently in his, and watched her face, willing her eyes to open, as people would pray for the sun to rise. She was the only person that really mattered now, the only person that would ever matter to him. That was what he whispered to his Rogue, as he settled down beside her and waited for the morning to come. He would bring her back, or he would follow her to wherever she had gone. He knew then, that this was love. God, how he loved her.  
  
This was the last thing he thought before he drifted off to sleep.  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Well that was a barrel of laughs wasn't it! Sorry about the gloom, things should get a bit better next chapter, when Mystique wakes up. But what happened with Juggernaut is going to affect the characters right from now all the way through the next story (this one isn't that far from being finished). I hope this chapter came out quickly enough. The next one may take a little longer, but you'll see what happens when Mystique wakes up. R/R as ever!!! Thank you all for reading!!!! 


	13. In which Mystique wakes up

1 Chapter 13  
  
And the vigil began. The group of teenagers took up their watch over their falling comrade with an almost military precision, each ready to watch over Rogue for as long as it took for her to come back to them. None of them even questioned that she would wake up; it just wasn't something to be considered.  
  
Whilst the depths of the mansion were keeping up their watch of hope, the remaining X-men above were left to try and come to terms with the loss of their teammate. The children walked around like zombies, looking straight ahead at no point in particular. They did this to avoid reminding themselves of their surroundings, as this would only make them remember that Rahne was no longer a part of that. None of the older X-men were available to help, what with being involved with Rogue's recovery, and to be frank, none of the newer members would have really appreciated it. Rahne had been a part of their group, a part of them. And she was gone. And hearts were broken.  
  
Bobby was one of the ones to suffer the most. Not just because he knew Rahne, and she was his friend, but because he would never ever be sure now if there was something he could have done to save her. In his mind, he felt that there must have been something, some specific action or mistake that had allowed Juggernaut to take her life. And the fact that it may have been his fault was tearing him apart inside. Nobody had seen him since he had been to see Rogue. He had shut the door to his room, and shut the world out.  
  
So he was surprised to hear a knock on the door just around dawn. Not because of the time, he didn't suppose that anybody had gotten any sleep that night. He looked up, and was even more shocked to see that the person standing in the door way was Scott Summers, who looked as though he would pass out if somebody tapped him with a feather. His eyes focused wearily on Bobby, and the sight of the other boy seemed to wake him from his stupor, reminding him of the reason he was standing in Bobby's doorway.  
  
'Hey' he said softly, as though afraid that to talk too loud would shatter the shell shocked mist that had settled over the mansion. 'Can I come in?' he asked, taking the slight nodding of Bobby's head as consent. Scott walked into the dark room and settled himself on a chair, noting dimly the tear soaked pillow on the bed, and the sheets that clearly hadn't been slept in.  
  
He looked at Bobby, right through his eyes, and down into the part of him that was a never-ending pool of sorrow. His eyes softened. 'Bobby, we need to know, I so sorry for asking you this, but we need to know what happened last night.' He said, making it clear that they needed Bobby's information. The younger boy looked at Cyclops like a traveller recognising a stranger as a figure from his past, someone he hadn't seen in years. And Scott knew the boy had been on a journey last night. He would have given anything to have been there instead of Bobby. The boy didn't need to feel like this.  
  
Even though all the new recruits were shattered by the news, they had had professor Xavier there for them. Despite Scott's current view of the man, he had to admit that the Professor had been wonderful with the younger members, giving them all the support and guidance that they so craved for at a time like this, and he respected the man for being able to do that. But Scott also knew that the team needed their leader back, and Bobby needed his teammates back too. He resolved to help the younger image of himself, after he had found out what he needed to know. They still had to save Rogue, and while there was a chance she could wake up, he wasn't going to give up on her.  
  
The iceman let the words sink in for a few moments, and it looked as though Scott was going to get nothing out of him at that time. But then his lips parted, and through them Bobby told the story that he lived over a hundred times since it happened.  
  
'We..' he said, unable to mention Rahne's name, 'we were at the street, looking out for the guy the Professor had sent us to find. We heard a rumble at the other end of the street, sounded almost like a thunderstorm really close up. But then we turned, and we saw a car fall down onto the ground, after being tossed in the air or something. Then there was another one, and another. Then we saw Juggernaut.' He paused, looking at some distant point as if watching the memory on a television screen.  
  
' I recognised him, from Logan having talked about you all fighting him once. And I said that we had to hold him off, before the rest of you all came. But we couldn't do it, we, we just weren't strong enough to do it. Juggernaut was winning the fight, and then Rogue came. She started fighting, did a shield to defend us. But there was something wrong with her, she looked almost like she had a huge headache, kept touching her temples. And then Juggernaut broke through, and she told me to run. I was numb; I just did it on instinct. She was yelling at me to run, and I did.' He let his heart beat once, twice, before adding. 'And it was probably that that got Rahne killed. Oh god, Rahne's dead, she's really gone…' he let the words trail off as his head fell into his hands.  
  
Scott pushed his shoulders up gently, but firmly, forcing Bobby to look at him. 'Bobby, you have to listen to me. You did everything you were supposed to do, you have to remember that, you did everything a team leader should do.'  
  
'No I didn't, I ran. I left my teammate, and she died. It's all very simple, it's my fault.'  
  
'No' Scott said, with a little bit more violence in his voice. 'Don't do that to yourself. You getting Lance and the others to come along were probably what saved Rogue's life. There was absolutely nothing you could have done about Rahne. She is gone, and its awful, but she did not go at your hands.'  
  
Bobby was staring down at his hands again, trying to defend himself from hearing Scott's words. The elder boy caught on though.  
  
'We can't blame ourselves for this, not if we want to get through it. There was something going on last night that we have no idea about, but if we want to live through this, we have to rally ourselves together. You have to rally your team together. Grieve, yes, because we have lost a friend who we can never replace. But for god's sake Bobby, don't go blaming yourself. You're needed here, you need to stay with us.' Scott said, his speech beginning to drain him of what little energy he had. He almost sank with relief though, as the words took their desired effect on Bobby. He stood up straight, and though his eyes were still bleak, there was none of the abyss that had been present before.  
  
'Yeah, I, I guess I need to try.' He said slowly, turning to face the dawn before him, glowing through the window and bathing the occupants of the room a pinkish hue. Scott nodded, not even attempting to smile, and he slowly faded away from the scene, leaving Bobby to his own tangled emotions, from which he would surface more loyal to his team than ever before.  
  
  
  
In the Brotherhood house, the mood was pretty similar. It wasn't just the X-men that had been affected by what they'd seen. Fred and Todd both looked like they'd just walked through a hurricane, and Tabby had walked home silently, phoning Kurt to see about Rogue, then shutting herself in her room, and locking the door. The other two remained in the living room with the still unconscious form of Mystique, waiting for some sort of action or revolution, too nervous to say anything to each other. Both watched the sun rise with a heavy heart, knowing that soon Lance or Pietro would return with some news of the situation at the mansion. All they had to do was wait just a little more.  
  
They were given something to do however, because at that moment, Mystique chose to wake up. This might have gone unnoticed by the stunned teens, had the older woman not screamed as she opened her eyes, coming out of her almost suspended animation.  
  
'Rogue! No you can't use it, it will kill you!' she yelled, as both Fred and Todd leapt into the air as if they'd been shot. They twisted their heads around and saw Mystique sitting up straight on the battered old lump they called a couch. She was breathing fast, and shaking all over. It seemed to take her a few seconds to accept her new surroundings, though knowing where she was didn't exactly calm her down. She darted over to Todd, who looked just a little bit scared as his former head mistress lifted him up and shoved her face in front of him, her eyes wide and desperate.  
  
'Tell me where Rogue is! Did she use it? What happened?' Todd didn't really understand the second question, and decided that, in her present state, it was best if he told Mystique everything he knew. He looked across at Fred for support, and together they explained to her what they thought had happened that night.  
  
Mystique waited with baited breath, and sagged with unspoken relief as she was told that Rogue was alive. She pulled herself into a standing position, intent on seeing her baby as soon as possible. But then she envisioned her memory of the previous night, and remembered that it just wasn't safe to go to the mansion now. She sat down again, and looked across at the two rather bewildered boys.  
  
'All right, I'll explain about the second part. I have been living around the institute for some time now, watching over Rogue and Kurt, checking to see if they needed me. And then I heard Xavier talking with Jean Grey. The Juggernaut incident, it was no accident. They planned it, so that Rogue would go into battle. They knew she'd use her psychic power, and they've been drugging her. The drug, it disabled the part of her mind that could control the flow of her powers, so when she used them, she put herself into a coma using too much power for her mind to cope with. She was lucky I suppose, that much power in her mind should have killed her. She must have knocked out half the street with that blast, including Juggernaut and myself.'  
  
For two boys that had joined 'the bad side' of the mutant war, Fred and Todd looked utterly appalled by what they'd just heard. 'The two of them, they planned this? They really wanted Rogue dead?' Fred asked with an almost childlike innocence.  
  
'It didn't work.' Mystique said, letting her relief show through with the sentence. 'And she's safe for now. The people round her aren't going to let her out of their site until she wakes, and recovers.' Mystique couldn't say the word 'if'; it would be too painful, both for herself and the boys.  
  
She gave a small start of surprise as Todd started immediately for the door, Fred following behind. 'Where are you going?' she asked, a little bewildered.  
  
'To warn Lance and Pietro and the others, of course. We have to fight Xavier and protect Rogue…' Todd was cut off as Mystique sprang lightly to her feet and threw herself in front of the door, shooting daggers at the pair of them.  
  
'Are you mad?' she hissed. 'Do you want to put her in anymore danger? If you go in there, he'll instantly be able to tell just what it is you are thinking. And once he knows that you know, he'll get rid of you, and he'll try even harder to get rid of Rogue. Please, now that you both know, you can't go anywhere near her. You hear? And don't tell Lance or Pietro, Rogue needs them at the moment, more than ever.'  
  
'She needs us too!' Fred interjected, looking a little bit put out.  
  
'Yes Fred, she needs you to help her by staying where you are, and helping to figure out just how we can bring Xavier down, without putting Rogue in any more danger than she already is.'  
  
'We can't sit by and do nothing while she's there with those creeps trying to kill her.' This time it was Todd who protested.  
  
'We have to Todd. If you only listen to me one time, let it be now. You go in there, and both you and Fred will join Rogue on Xavier's hit list. Do you understand?'  
  
Mystique said, crossing her arms and looking at them unblinkingly.  
  
The boys gave each other tense looks, before nodding quickly, and then settling down with their former leader to figure out what the hell they could do to help Rogue now.  
  
  
  
Rogue closed her eyes and breathed deeply. It was so very bright where she was. Too bright in her opinion. Her feet were touching ground, yet she had the oddest feeling that she wasn't really walking, more floating above herself. And she had no idea just what it was she felt about it, or what she felt about anything at all, come to think of it. It was like she was detached from her feelings, from her entire being, and the only emotion she could feel was a desperate longing to return to herself. Yet there was a little voice there, somewhere that she couldn't quite place, saying only that it wasn't yet her time, it wasn't yet her time. She knew it was telling her to fight her way out, to somehow escape.  
  
She tried to take encouragement in the words. Tried to force herself down into the walking figure below her. But she couldn't fight her way through the detachment. She had no memory of just how she had come to be in this place, so it couldn't help her to get out. She had no idea how long she'd been in this, this nothingness, waiting for a link to pull her back to wherever it was she came from. She knew only that this wasn't where she belonged, but if she couldn't find her link to her home, she would never return. And if she could feel, she would be swept over by cold terror, as she realised she had no idea of what it was that could save her from the nothing.  
  
But there was something there, something in the back of her head, which gave her a sense of self, if ever so small. She just needed a push to send her back, to bring that link to the foreground. What was it, what memory was it that kept her wanting to join the living again.  
  
Then she saw something. An image, a face. And it spoke to her, its pale hair glistening in the brightness surrounding her. She looked into the pale eyes, and finally saw in them what she'd been waiting for. She saw her love, and she saw herself.  
  
Rogue felt herself spiralling downwards, much further than the ground she had been floating above. Colours rushed past her so fast that they blended into one. And suddenly everything stopped, and came to a halt.  
  
She felt solid sheets beneath her, and let her eyes fly open, murmuring a single word that had been her salvation.  
  
'Pietro.'  
  
DISCLAIMER: Characters are property of Marvel and WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Soooooo sorry about the long delay, I've been really busy, really! And I know that this chapter isn't that much more happy than the last, but hey, next chapter Rogue will be awake, and we'll see the return of Lance and Pietro!! So please keep reading, I promise you it should get better from here!! Thanks to all my reviewers, and please don't forget to R/R! 


	14. In which Rogue receives visitors, and th...

Chapter 14  
  
There were two people in the silent hospital room, but to Kitty, she was entirely on her own. She had spent so long gazing at the shell of her best friend, trying to will life back into her marble features, that she had lapsed into staring into space, not even waiting for Rogue to get better anymore, just to be there.  
  
So naturally it was a great surprise to her when the other girl suddenly sat up in her bed, eyes wide open and lips forming a word that Kitty was too shocked to even hear properly.  
  
Both X-men stared each other in the eye for a long moment, and then Kitty let out the loudest scream she'd ever made.  
  
The sound brought the inhabitants of the mansion running to hospital bay, each person fearing the worst. What they found however, when the opened the door, was Kitty hugging an awake, if slightly bemused Rogue, and the sight caused the screams to turn into cheers, which would last for a long long time.  
  
Rogue was back again.  
  
  
  
In the brotherhood house, Todd came off the phone, and walked over to the other three occupants. Mystique was sitting on the couch, trying her hardest to maintain the authoritative, cold façade she had always been able to put on before. Tabitha was sitting on the floor, her knees hugged to her chest. Without a smile on her face, she looked almost broken. Fred was asleep on the floor, the agonizing waiting and exhaustion finally having gotten to him. Todd looked at them all, quite pleased at the effect his words would have on them all.  
  
'That was Lance, Rogue just woke up. She's going to be okay!' he said, a smile spreading wide across his face.  
  
As Todd had predicted, the effects were immediate. Fred woke up so quickly he smacked his head on the table, rubbing the lump that was formed with a goofy expression on his face. Mystique tried to remain aloof, but couldn't stop herself falling back on the couch with a look of the utmost relief. Tabby was perhaps the most restrained. She merely looked up from where she was sitting, and murmured to herself.  
  
'That's good.' There was still no smile on her face as she spoke, and the words were so quiet nobody even noticed.  
  
Mystique gained control of her emotions again, and gave Todd a hard stare. 'You didn't tell him anything about what we know, did you Todd?' she asked.  
  
The boy shook his head, still showing a little fear for his former head teacher. Mystique accepted what he said, and nodded her head slightly, before making her way towards the door.  
  
Todd, Fred and Tabby all watched her with a little curiosity, and Fred called after her 'where are you going?'  
  
Mystique turned round, and stared them all in the eye. 'I'm going to inform my daughter of what's going on'. She was out of the door before they could even begin to protest.  
  
  
  
The vigil around Rogue's bed had quickly turned into a party, with her friends all celebrating her return to them. Kurt's happiness had caused him to lose control of his powers for a short while, causing him to bamf round the mansion at a manic and uncontrollable pace, much to the amusement of the others.  
  
Lance had had to prise Kitty off of Rogue, and even ten minutes after her waking, she was still practically bouncing off the walls, shrieking 'I like, totally knew you would wake up.'  
  
Lance rolled his eyes at his girlfriend, and gave Rogue's shoulder a squeeze, a warm look in his eyes that made Rogue smile for the first time in ages. She looked beyond him to see Scott and Bobby standing by the door, Bobby looking particularly anxious. She let her smile reach over to them, and saw both of them brighten just a little. On the other side of the room, there was Pietro. Her heart ached as she saw him, and she took in a little breath as she realised just what had happened in her dream like state, and what she had learned. She was in love with Pietro so much; he had become a part of herself, her soul mate.  
  
Lance saw where she was looking, and the corner of his mouth turned up a little. He leaned in and whispered 'I think you've made your choice.'  
  
Rogue looked up at him from the bed, her small nod causing the others to all look at her with confusion. At this point, Kurt bamfed wildly into the room, flying into Kitty and sending them both careering through the wall. Seconds later they both emerged, Kurt not even paying attention to Kitty's wails of protest. He had run over to his sister, and thrown his arms round her, reminding Rogue just how good it was to be back in the world of the living. She looked over to Bobby, who still looked oddly uncomfortable.  
  
'Cheer up Bobby,' she said. 'I'm fine, you did well. Now where's Rahne, I want to know what happened after I was knocked out.'  
  
It was almost as though a blanket of darkness had been thrown over the jubilance in the room. Her friends and family all looked down at the floor, Bobby couldn't even bare to face her. Rogue narrowed her eyes. 'Tell me what happened please', she commanded.  
  
It was Lance and Kurt who took the job of explaining things to her. Kurt began, saying 'well your blast worked we think, Juggernaut was killed by it, and Mys..Mother was knocked unconscious. We don't know what she was doing there, but she's staying with Fred, Todd and Tabby at the moment.' He stopped, and Rogue let herself remember something. A scream, somebody behind her. Or was it a warning?  
  
Lance continued. 'We all got there a few minutes after it must have happened. You took the street apart, well the bits that Juggernaut hadn't already destroyed.' He paused, wondering how he could possibly phrase the next part.  
  
Rogue wasn't in the mood for being patient. 'Tell me what happened to Rahne.' She whispered softly.  
  
Avalanche took a deep breath. 'Rahne is dead Rogue. She was dead when we got there. We think she must have broken her neck when Juggernaut threw her somewhere.' He watched Rogue's face, as her disbelief shattered into mind numbing pain.  
  
'What? she's, but she can't be. She'd dead? No!' she screamed, thrashing at the bed. Lance and Kurt fought to hold her down. Rogue finally slumped back on the sheets.  
  
'This shouldn't have happened. I should have been able to protect her. Why couldn't I protect her?' she asked, looking round the room in agony, as if expecting someone to have an answer for her. There was silence.  
  
'Is there going to be a funeral for her, has it already happened? She shouldn't be dead. She was too young!' Rogue screamed. The others all rushed forward to help the two boys.  
  
'Rogue stop it' Bobby said, putting his hand to his ears. 'It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I should have stayed and helped.' Scott put a hand towards him as if to stop him, but Rogue did the job pretty well.  
  
'Shut up Bobby, this wasn't your fault. I should have been able to deal with this, I was meant to deal with this.' She put her hands to her head like she wanted to rip it off her body. 'All this power' she said miserably, 'and it didn't do anything.'  
  
There was again, a long pause. Hands were offered in comfort, but the girl on the bed pushed them away. 'I'd like to be alone please.' She said quietly, but so nobody could question her words.  
  
The teenagers looked at each other helplessly, then only slightly less worried than they had been before. Rogue was left alone with her thoughts, trying her hardest to lift herself from her own guilt and agony.  
  
  
  
It was a while later, and still nobody had dared to venture down to the medical bay. Everyone who wanted to run down and be at Rogue's side had seen the look in her eyes when she'd asked to be left alone.  
  
Oddly enough though, somebody was looking to wander down to the room, and that person was Jean Grey. Something had stirred inside her when she'd been told that Rogue had woken up, and she wasn't sure what it was. Relief, possibly, or maybe it was hope. She didn't know why it was there, when something was telling her that Rogue's death was for the best. She just felt some sort of urge to see the girl, and find a solution to the confused feelings inside her head. But as she made her way towards the stairwell, she saw somebody's back disappearing down it. It was Scott. She reached out with her troubled mind, touching his for the first time in around a month. She saw clear as day what the purpose of his visit was, and she fell down the stairs as if she'd been shot. Jean, the girl who would never ever let herself collapse in front of others, lent against the barrister and cried in the knowledge that she had lost somebody that she loved forever.  
  
Scott knocked on the door softly with one hand, the other clenched nervously at his side. He heard a small voice telling him to come in, and so he pushed open the gateway. Rogue's face was blotched with tears that had fallen and dried, showing that she hadn't even tried to wipe them away. Her hair hung limply around her like a broken brown halo, and her skin had the pale quality that before had made her seem so untouchable. Yet to him she still looked so beautiful.  
  
She gave him a tiny smile, to let him know that she had calmed down slightly since she had heard the news about Rahne. She tried to get out of bed, but discovered that she still wasn't strong enough, and settled for sitting up in the bed. Scott moved over to her and sat by the bed, more nervous than he'd ever been before.  
  
'How are you?' he asked gently.  
  
Rogue thought for a moment before answering. 'Broken, but it will get better. I will get better.' She said. His heart ached for her.  
  
Scott didn't want to do this to her in this state, but he knew that every moment he was waiting without telling her how he felt, a little part of him was slipping away. He needed to be with her.  
  
'We're all here to help you.' He said, before taking a deep breath, and prepared to get it over with. 'But there's something I wanted to tell you..'  
  
  
  
Pietro made his way down the steps more slowly than he thought was possible of him. He was looking for the source of the crying he'd heard from the room he was sharing with Scott. He saw a hunched up figure at the foot of the stairs, and almost fell over in surprise when he realised who it was.  
  
He tried to keep his voice gentle; no matter what the girl had done, it wasn't in his teeny tiny moral code to be mean to a crying girl. 'Jean,' he said, surprised at how hard it was just to say her name, and not 'red'. 'What's wrong.'  
  
She looked up at him as though having a hard time placing his face. When recognition dawned on her, it seemed like some sort of realisation had struck.  
  
'You'd be here too, if I told you why I'm upset.' Pietro looked a little non-plussed, so she elaborated. 'Scott has gone down to see Rogue, and to tell her that he's…..that he's in love with her.' She choked out the words, not even enjoying the look of horror that crossed Pietro's face before he took off down the stairwell to the medical bay. Jean didn't even notice he was gone. There was more than her loss about Scott leaking out from her eyes. If only she knew why she felt so horribly guilty.  
  
  
  
'You see Rogue, for a while now I, well I, oh god why can't I say it!' he said in frustration. Rogue looked at him like he'd suddenly sprouted a second head. He took another brave stab at telling her.  
  
'Rogue, I, I,' he stammered, then decided to do something more visual, taking her face in his hands; he leaned down and kissed her slowly on the lips.  
  
It was about one second later when Pietro walked in, took one look at them, and ran right out of the mansion. Too busy absorbing himself in his own pain to even notice that Rogue was calling out his name behind him.  
  
In the room, Rogue had broken the kiss to shout at Pietro, calling his name for minutes afterward even though she was sure he would have left. Scott was sitting back, in shock. Not because Rogue was screaming Pietro's name, but because she hadn't kissed him back. He put his head in his hands.  
  
Rogue finally stopped calling after quicksilver, and looked back to Scott, confusion and frustration in her eyes. 'Why did you do that?' she asked, fighting to keep the accusing tone from her voice. She didn't even want to think about what Scott's actions had done to her relationship with Pietro, it was too painful.  
  
Scott looked at her wretchedly. 'I'm in love with you,' he finally got out. 'I just couldn't say it before, so I wanted to show you.'  
  
As Rogue listened to his words, she realised something that would have made her laugh if she hadn't been in this situation. 'Scott' she said gently, knowing that it would be hard for him to accept her theory at this moment in time. 'You couldn't say it, because you aren't really in love with me.'  
  
He looked at her like she was insane. 'What are you talking about?' he said.  
  
Rogue shook her head, wondering how she could explain herself. 'You're in love with the idea of me. I know it might sound hard to believe, but it's true.' He still looked utterly bewildered, so she had another go at explaining.  
  
'I know it doesn't feel like that, but it is. Even without looking in your mind, I can tell. The thing is, you're the best X-man we have, and you are the leader. And it just seems natural to you that you should be in love with the best X-woman. It fits. That woman used to be Jean, but now, now it's me.' She hoped like hell that she was right, and that she hadn't just stamped his heart into tiny pieces.  
  
To her relief, Scott nodded slightly. 'It still hurts though. And I think you're wrong in some ways. I do love you Rogue.'  
  
'And I love you too.' She told him honestly. 'You are one of my closest friends. But I don't love you in the way that I love..' she stopped herself, forcing herself not to think about Pietro.  
  
Scott caught her meaning anyway. 'I guess I can understand. He's an all right guy actually.' He allowed, causing Rogue to smile a bit. Scott wanted to avoid more awkwardness, so he pulled himself off the chair, and started out of the room.  
  
'Scott?' Rogue called after him. The boy turned, and smiled at her.  
  
'Yes Rogue, we can still be friends. It's just going to take time. That's all.'  
  
Rogue shook her head. 'No, it's just that when you do fall in love, I'll be there to beat the girl up if she hurts you again!'  
  
He gave a small laugh, and walked away. Rogue let the smile stay on her face for a moment; before she remembered the look on Pietro's face, and let her head fall back onto the pillow to contemplate what she'd lost.  
  
  
  
Pietro sat down on the bench at the roadside he'd finally stopped at, brushing angry tears away from his eyes. He shouldn't be acting like this, hadn't he promised himself that he'd respect Rogue's decision, whatever it was. But he'd been so sure that she felt as he did, that she loved him like he loved her. He curled up on the hard wood, settling down for what would prove to be a long night, and willing himself to believe that he had been wrong.  
  
  
  
The next day dawned cold and clear, the warmth seemingly sucked from the rays of sunshine. Fitting weather for a funeral. Rogue had been unable to come outside, being that she still couldn't get out of her bed. She lay alone with her guilt, unable to even watch the grieving faces that had poured out of the mansion doors to the grounds of the institute. Sam had picked a spot for the burial to take place, saying in a voice that was thick with unshed tears that Rahne had always adored just sitting there when she was angry, and that watching the world go by around her would calm her down, making her realise just how small and unimportant she actually was. It was ironic really, that the anecdote reminded the mourners of just how important and special she really was.  
  
Bobby had volunteered to read out a eulogy, after some encouragement from Scott. He cleared his throat, and nervously looked around at his team members, at the professor, and at the coffin. And he began.  
  
'I don't really have a lot to say today. What can you say? We all loved Rahne, and she was taken from us. There are no words or phrases that we can use to fill the hole that has been left by her death. There is only the desire to continue living, to ensure that her life wasn't wasted. I would like to ask that you all hold a memory of her with you, and keep her living that way, even if we never will actually see her again.' He took a deep breath, and his eyes rested on her coffin.  
  
'I promise you Rahne, that we will all live on for you. I promise you I won't let the team down. I'll protect them, I promise you this much. Goodbye Wolfsbane, you never really knew how much we all loved you. But we'll make up in death what we never did in life, this I swear to you.'  
  
Bobby couldn't say anymore. Sam had fallen into a heap on the floor, unable to take the awful sadness anymore. Bobby was right, there were no magic words that would take away the pain, and only time could do that. It was with a great deal of tears and regrets that the funeral was ended; only Logan remained behind to bury the coffin.  
  
It was as Kurt was making his way back towards the house that he recognised a familiar blond head, leaning against a tree and watching the scene from a long way away. He teleported over to his girlfriend, his heart leaping; reminding him of just how much he'd missed her these past few days.  
  
Tabby made a small noise when she saw him, and he was shocked to see her almost shrink away from him. This wasn't the girl he remembered and loved.  
  
'I'm sorry' she said softly, 'I didn't mean for anyone to see me here.'  
  
'Tabby, what are you worried about, it's only me!' Kurt exclaimed. He started towards her, but she backed away again. She still looked frightened.  
  
'No', she whispered. 'I can't talk with you. I can't laugh with you, not anymore.'  
  
Kurt looked at her, concern now showing on his furry face. 'I don't understand.'  
  
Tabby seemed to be frustrated by this. 'You don't understand? Kurt, all we do together is laugh and joke, and we can't do that anymore. Because somebody I knew is dead. And I found her. And I can't laugh after that.' she finished morosely, before beginning to disappear into the trees, with Kurt running after her.  
  
'Tabby, you can't do this! You need to laugh now more than ever.' He protested. She faced him, her pain so evident that Kurt had to fight not to take her in his arms.  
  
'I have to go away for a while. From everybody.' She said quietly, not wanting to be swayed from her resolve.  
  
'You can't leave us, you can't leave me!' Kurt said, hating the pleading tone that was in his voice. She was hurting, and all he could think of was how upset he'd be if she left him. 'I love you', he finished.  
  
She softened for a moment, and then shook her head, as though trying to rid herself of all that was holding her down. She started away, pushing branches out her way.  
  
Kurt was running after her so fast he didn't even see the branch coming until it was a bit too late. Tabby turned round and saw him be hit right in the middle of the forehead, and go sprawling to the ground.  
  
She should have taken that opportunity to run, but she didn't. She thought about what she'd just seen for a moment, and then she let a giggle escape her lips. It was small, but it was there, and it was an escape from the prison she had built for herself. And most importantly, it was a start to recovery. She knelt down beside a slightly dazed Kurt, and rubbed his forehead affectionately.  
  
'Dammit blue, I love you too.' She said, kissing him gently, and cursing the depth of her feelings. All resolve to leave was gone, and with Kurt's help, she had a confidence that she could get over the pain of what had happened.  
  
Kurt got over his knock to smile at what his girlfriend had just said. They held each other for a while, in what was the tenderest embrace of their entire relationship. They then helped each other up, and Kurt beckoned for her to come into the mansion with him.  
  
Tabby remembered something, and shook her head. Kurt began to get that worried look in his eyes. And Tabby held a hand up to stop him saying whatever it was he was about to say.  
  
'I can't go in there, not because of me, it's about what happened to Rogue….'  
  
  
  
Jean scribbled down something in her diary, reaching for another tissue. God she hated funerals. She shut the book with a snap, throwing the pen down on the desk. She had liked the idea of keeping a diary ever since she was a little girl, and still liked the idea of having somewhere where she could write down her secret thoughts. She put the book carefully in a draw, and shut it. The lock was unique, activated only by doing a retina scan of her eye. Not that she was worried about it being found; nobody even knew she kept a diary. She opened the window and leaned out, sending birds in the trees around it scattering. Jean took a deep breath, drying the remnants of her tears, before heading back through her room and down to the kitchen for lunch.  
  
Once she had gone, one of the birds swooped in through the window, landing in front of the drawers that Jean had just been standing by. In one smooth version, the bird morphed into a carbon copy of the girl that occupied the room, and leaned in for the retinal scan. The draw slid open, and the clone of Jean picked up the book and exited the room quickly, changing into a bird before she'd even left the room.  
  
  
  
Xavier watched the kids as they comforted each other, pleased at their unity under difficult situations. He was proud of his new recruits. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by another presence on the mansion grounds. He searched out with his mind, and finally found where the intruder was. His heart stopped beating for a moment, as it finally dawned on him just what it was Mystique was up to. By the time he guessed what was going on, it was too late.  
  
  
  
Rogue was lying alone in her bed, unaware of just what it was that was going on upstairs. She looked a little bewildered as a raven flew in through the open door, dropping something on her blankets before flying out again as quickly as it could.  
  
Rogue could have taken a guess as to who the bird was, but she was much more interested in what had it had left for her. She picked up the hard backed book with curiosity, and raised her eyebrows as she read the title, and saw a picture of Jean and what Rogue presumed was her family on the front.  
  
DIARY  
  
Rogue waited only a moment before she opened the book and began to read.  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of WB and Marvel.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: That was actually done quicker than I thought it would be! Next chapter will be a bit different, as it's basically Jean's diary. But the chapter after that, you'll get to see Rogue's reaction, and some important decisions will be made by the X-men. So please stay with me, and review!!! Thank you for the reviews you've done already, I love knowing that people like the story! 


	15. In which the contents of a diary are mad...

1 Chapter 15  
  
  
  
Dear diary,  
  
Great day at school today! Duncan was following me around all day, and being so sweet! He asked me if I wanted to go out to the movies with him tonight, but I was already going with the team, and I didn't want to let them down. Plus Scott was pretty pleased when I decided to go with them. Sometimes I wonder, what if I stopped fooling around with Duncan, and told Scott just how I feel about him sometimes. I mean, I've known him forever, and we're like best friends. But I'm sure there's something more there, I'm just scared to face it a lot of the time. Silly for an X-man, isn't it! Mind you, Duncan looked pretty cute today, so maybe I'll leave the Scott thing for a little while longer. Anyway, in class I got a perfect score on the Math test. They told me I was going to be entered in an academic tournament in a few weeks. I'm so excited! I love representing the school, and they said this might even be televised!  
  
Oh, I almost forgot, Rogue was pretty pissed off with us all today, because we forgot her birthday. But honestly, I bet if we had all remembered it, she'd be pissed at the attention. Sometimes I'm not sure whether that girl knows what she wants at all. She looks really unhappy to be here with us, but why would you be? The professor has given people like us a chance to use our gifts for good, and he takes care of us. Rogue should be grateful for the family that she hasn't had before. That's all for today I guess.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Dear Diary  
  
Wow, Duncan took me out tonight, and it really gave me some perspective. I was bored out of my skull!! I mean, I hardly spoke to most the people who were in the pizza place, and all they could talk about was football and clothes and stuff. Duncan probably thinks I'm like one of those girls. He just doesn't realise that there's much more to me than that.  
  
Argh, I wish there was somebody here I could talk to about all this. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all the X-men, but I guess I feel like I can't talk to them about this, because to them I'm sort of a mother figure. The professor is really preoccupied about something, has been ever since I last wrote. He says he's going to need my help with something, but I'm not quite sure what yet. He's being very distant, it's not like him. And Scott is all worried because Rogue keeps disappearing and showing up at the mansion late after school. I sometimes think that Rogue may better off going back to the brotherhood. I mean, all that she does here is cause problems. She treats her powers like a curse, not a gift, and that isn't how we view things here. And I suppose if I'm honest, I'm not happy about her taking up so much of Scott's attention. She's started to wear normal makeup, and it's caused a big change in her face. I wonder if Scott notices, maybe I should try to read his, no I can't do that. Never mind.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
Well the last few days have been pretty interesting, largely thanks to Rogue. We found out where she'd been going after school. She'd been giving cookery lessons to Pietro Maximoff! Well, figures she'd go help out the Brotherhood. Anyway, she went missing for a while. The professor was really worried about it, he told me to stop the team going looking for her. I did the best I could, and Scott argued with me! It's the first time we've ever disagreed on something, and it was over Rogue! We found her eventually, and she stormed off, I can't believe it!  
  
I spoke to the professor about it when she came back, and he said that she'd need to have her powers diminished, because she had inherited a huge dose of power, and she's now psychic as well! I have to start working on something to curb her powers, so I'll be pretty busy over the next few days. The professor said it's for her own safety, and I guess he's right. But I wonder, what if doing this ends up hurting her? Even if I don't like Rouge, which I'm not scared to admit now, I wouldn't want to be responsible for hurting her. Would I?  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
I hate her I hate her I hate her! This entire week has been a nightmare, and it's all Rogues fault. She can touch now, and she's taken the opportunity to flaunt herself to the entire school. Now Scott wouldn't notice if I came over and stamped on his foot, he's so busy staring at Rogue. She's ruined everything. She's even smarter than I am now too, she doesn't even have to try in class, it's all because of these stupid powers she has. Everything will be all right though, because the professor and me have nearly finished the drink to curb her powers. It should infect her mind; stop her accessing the new powers. I suppose this whole thing has taught me not to take my position for granted, and once Rogue is gone, or things get back to the way they were, I'm going to be thankful for who I am, and what I have. It's that famous expression that you don't know what you've got until it's gone. But I'm going to get it back, especially Scott. I miss him; I miss the way that we were so in tune with each other. And most of all I miss the fact that he was silently in love with me just as much as I'm in love with him. I can't believe I waited for so long to realise it.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
What am I going to do? Even though we've started giving Rogue the drink, things are getting so hard. I'm crying as I'm writing this, can you believe it? I had a conversation with Scott, I confronted him about Rogue, and he admitted it. He actually admitted liking her to my face. He made it very clear to me that there is nothing between us anymore. It's not fair, how can this girl who was so unpleasant and unknown suddenly come along and take away everything that I hold dear. She's been entered for the academic competition too; even that isn't my honour anymore. I just feel that, until she is gone, I'm not really me anymore. Oh god, I'm so miserable! The professor has been so kind, but there's only one way that I can get back to being myself again, and that's by making sure that Rogue leaves. It's the only way.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
Well Rogue and the Brotherhood really screwed up today. The academic tournament was a complete disaster; all because Pietro and his friends wanted to impress little miss perfect. And then she just laughs about it, enjoying all the attention. She was getting everything right anyway, and she doesn't even care about winning, she probably just wanted to look good for Scott. She went out after that with Kitty, Kurt and the Brotherhood, and Scott was really down about it for a bit. He just sat on the couch, staring at the door, waiting for her to walk through it. Now Rogue hasn't just stolen Scott away from me, she's breaking his heart too. He's going to need me soon though, when this is all over.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
The poison isn't working at all! Rogue can use her powers just the same as she always could. I'm so confused. I want things to get back to the way they were, to have Rogue leave or lose her powers. But the Professor told me today, that the only way to get her out of my life is to, god I can't even say it. Basically, the only way that she is going to leave is permanently, and the Professor has a plan to make that happen. He wants me to go and release Juggernaut, and then set up a trap so Rogue will go and rescue some of the other X-men, and she'll end up using her psychic power. We've increased the dosage in her drink so much, that it should actually kill her. Looking at what I've just written, it makes me sick inside to think that I agreed, I don't know what's gotten into me. Do I really hate someone so much, that I would want them dead? I don't even know who I am anymore; I just want all this to stop!  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
I'm a murderer. I've actually killed someone, and I'm not even out of school yet. How the hell did all of this happen, I'm a member of the X-men, I'm supposed to be using my powers for good. I've been watching them all walk around for the last few hours, blaming themselves, when I know that the whole thing really is my fault. But it was an accident, we never meant for Rahne to die. She was a teammate, one of the people that I was able to protect only a few weeks ago. And she's dead, and it really is my fault.  
  
Then there's Rogue. At the minute she's in a coma. She might never wake up. When I think about it, I feel like I'm being torn in two. My head says that I should be pleased, that the plan worked. And then there's a part of me that wants to break down in tears and give in to the guilt that I should be feeling. But I can't, something has happened that means I can't feel bad about what I did, like something has gone bad in my head, and I have no idea why. All I know is that, whatever happens, I cannot look at Rogue's face. Where did everything get so wrong?  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
She's awake. I supposed that I'm pleased, it means I don't need to add another person to the list of people I've killed. I've kept pretty quiet so far, snuck round the mansion where people can't see me. But then I decided that I should get over my fear, that I should go and look her in the face. I was on my way down, and I saw Scott going instead. He was going to tell her that he was in love with her. I feel like someone's just ripped my heart out my chest. This was never ever supposed to happen. I told Pietro about it, and he went down to see the two of them. He came outside running so fast, but his mind was in such torment that I could feel it as he ran past me. That means Rogue must have returned Scott's feelings. And that means my heart is broken. I was wrong to think I could change things, now they're never going to be the same again.  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
Diary  
  
It was the funeral today. I wanted to cry, I wanted to break down and tell everyone everything, but something made my head harden, and I got through it. It was a sad service; all the new recruits seemed desolate. Bobby read something; he's going to make a great leader someday. And Scott stood by him with such a sad smile on his face that I wanted to hold him tight until everything had gone away. But I can't do that, and you can tell by the splodges on the page that I've been crying about it again. I've never cried so much before, and I've never let anybody see me cry. This whole thing has changed me so much, and now I have to find a way to move on with things. What is in the past is gone, and I suppose I'm going to have to let Scott be a part of that past. So why does it hurt so much?  
  
Jean  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters and situation are property of WB and Marvel  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Right, that's that bit done. Sorry it's not a proper chapter, but next time I write you're going to see how Rogue reacts to this! Oh yes, updates may be even slower over the next few weeks, being as I'm starting exams very soon. Noooo! R/R please, thanks to those who've already done so! Toodles!! 


	16. In which decisions are made

Chapter 16  
  
  
  
The world shrank inwards as Rogue absorbed herself in the pages before her. Time stood still and wound back as she applied the contents of the books to the events of the weeks and months that had gone by. And the knowledge of what had really gone on sparked storms in her eyes, and let rage flow through her veins, energizing her, and making her feel more powerful than ever before.  
  
Rogue raised her head slightly, glaring at some vacant point on the wall. The book on her lap snapped shut and flew from her sight, without her giving so much as a second thought. There was only one thing on her revitalised mind now, fuelled by anger that deep inside stemmed from guilt and grief. And Rogue had now found the person to blame it on. She had to get ready, the time had come.  
  
  
  
Charles Xavier paced his office, more worried than he had ever been before. He knew that very soon, Rogue would know of his part in that fateful evening. He just hoped that the poison had weakened her enough for him to be able to deal with her. Behind him, Jean sat on the chair by the desk, looking shaky and ashen in colour. The Professor wanted to comfort her, to reassure her, but he knew now that they would have to wait for Rogues reaction. He could only push out with his mind, and ease Jean's worries by persuading her mind to stop thinking like that. The fact that this was the second time he had used his power to manipulate his student troubled him even more, and left a heavy, forced silence between teacher and pupil, as though awaiting judgement for their crimes….  
  
  
  
The other people in the house were of course oblivious to all this activity. Lance had taken off somewhere that day, saying that he was worried about Pietro. Scott had locked himself in his room after the funeral, though nobody was sure whether this was out of sadness for the death of Rahne, or something else altogether. Kitty had been in her own private world, and nobody had seen Kurt for a while now.  
  
The inhabitants of the house, however preoccupied they were, could not fail to notice the loud noises and shouting that were suddenly echoing through the building. The mutants rushed from their various stations out into the main staircase and hall, and looked in bewilderment at the sight below them.  
  
Rogue was there, more alive than anyone had ever seen her before, even before that awful night. Though most of them would be glad if she never felt this energized again, because of the look it gave her. Every single fibre of her being radiated power and strength, and at this point in time all that anger was directed towards Professor Charles Xavier, and behind him Jean Grey.  
  
Rogue was shouting at them, fire blazing in her eyes, and the X-men felt their mouths drop open as they listened to what she was yelling about.  
  
'You think that something gives you a right to do this to people?' she asked, her voice sounding menacing and furious. 'You think that you can just play God like that?'  
  
The Professor held up his hand gently, seeming to realise that there was an audience present. 'Rogue, please, if we can just get all this sorted out in my office.'  
  
She gave a harsh laugh, shaking her head as she did so. 'No, we are going to sort all this out now. In front of everyone else, so they can make a decision as well.'  
  
The Professor stared at her hard, as if trying to work out what his best course of action would be. He seemed to decide upon something, as a resolved expression settled in on his weary face.  
  
Rogue wasn't even looking; she had turned towards the other mutants, all standing at the top of the stairs looking expectantly for some sort of explanation. Rogue faced them all, defiant.  
  
'I've just found out, through the help of someone else, just what sort of man our Professor is.' She looked at the shocked faces before her, and plunged in before the man could do anything to stop him. The time had come for a new side of mutants to be formed, and the X-men had a right to know what was going on before they decided where their loyalties lied.  
  
'Your Professor, is the sort of man who is willing to poison his own students, just so they don't surpass him in power. Your Professor is the sort of person who would sacrifice the life of one of his students, just to try and rid himself of a threat to his power. He's a man who will go behind your back, and if you disagree with him, he is the sort of man who will use his power to control your mind, your own thoughts.'  
  
She gave the Professor a contemptuous glance before finishing up her tirade. She didn't even notice Kurt coming in and closing the door softly, a worried expression on his fuzzy blue fur.  
  
'I say 'your Professor' now, because he is no longer my teacher. I'm leaving the institute, and I want anyone who believes one word I've said about him to follow me. We don't need this man to show us how to do good, we were already good in the first place.' She ended there, waiting for the words to sink in, waiting for some reaction fro her friends.  
  
There was absolute silence in the echoing mansion, as the teens all contemplated the decision that was now facing them. Even if by some lucky chance they believed what Rogue said, was it enough evidence for them to simply walk out on their Professor, The man who had done so much for them? The day had finally arrived when the mutants had to choose just which side they were on, and their judgements on the situation would have lasting effects on all of their futures. Most remained lost in contemplation above the expectant faces below them.  
  
Kurt was the first to decide which way to go, but for him it was hardly even a decision. He stepped up to his younger sister, and put a comforting arm on her shoulder.  
  
'I believe you, and I will follow you.' He said, not even trying to add a funny comment after the sentence. Those simple words had been enough.  
  
He was followed soon after by Kitty, who came down the stairs quickly and quietly, not even saying a word, but making her position clear by standing next to Rogue. The Professor kept the expression on his face impassive.  
  
He had to fight for control, when he noticed the next person who had decided to join with Rogue. Scott made his way cautiously down the steps, as thought unsure of what he was really doing. Once on the ground floor, he made it clear who it was he was addressing, when he said 'I'm with you.'  
  
Rogue gave him a slightly gratified smile. She had been expecting Kitty and Kurt to side with her, but after what had happened between her and Scott, she didn't know if he'd uphold their deal to remain friends. She was pleased to see that after rejection, he was the same person, and it made her satisfied to know that she'd never been wrong in her good opinion of her.  
  
She looked around at the newer mutants, and winced a little. They all seemed to think she was crazy, as far as she could see. They were caught halfway between bewilderment at what she was talking about, and complete denial about the message she was trying to give. Sure enough, they filed down the stairs in slow succession, each stepping over to the man in the wheelchair. It was as though an invisible line had been drawn between the mutants. They couldn't see it, but they could feel it like it was a solid steel wall.  
  
Only two mutants remained at the top of the stairs, as Storm went to side with the Professor, placing a hand on the back of his wheel chair. Wolverine was nowhere to be found, though Rogue expected that he would stay at the mansion, he was after all old friends with Xavier. Evan and Bobby remained at the top of the steps, hesitant, and torn. After a moment or so, Evan walked down the stairs, and went to stand with his aunt, throwing a look of apology in Rogue's direction. She understood.  
  
Bobby remained. The seconds ticked by as he stood in front of the abyss. He had to choose a side. Rogue was right, she was probably right about him. Yet his team had sided with the Professor. He had promised Rahne he would take care of them. What could he do?  
  
He looked deep into Rogue's eyes, into the face of the person he was closest to in the entire mansion, and he found in it the strength and compassion, which allowed him to make his choice.  
  
'Rogue, you are one of my closest friends, but I cannot leave my team. I have to stay here and take care of them.' He swallowed, and stepped over the dividing line. The choices had been made, and now came the resolution to what had been building up for a while in the Xavier institute. Rogue put a hand to her temple, and bags came whizzing down the stairs, carrying what the mutants could only presume was the belongings of those now leaving. Rogue motioned for Kurt, Kitty and Scott to leave through the doors of the house, and they moved to do so, just before the doors slammed shut in front of them. Rogue wheeled around on her heel, and glared at the Professor, as the threshold banged back open.  
  
'No.' she said angrily, 'you will let them leave.'  
  
The three of them left the mansion grounds, all the while looking behind at what it was they were leaving. They paused outside the gates, waiting for their friend, their now leader, and the only person who could tell them just what was going to happen now.  
  
  
  
Back inside the mansion, Rogue was pausing on her way out. She eyed the red headed girl standing behind the Professor. She was in complete conflict over Jean Grey. Sure the girl had been pretty bad, but it was largely down to the manipulation of the Professor. She deserved a chance to break away from him.  
  
'Jean,' she said, speaking to her for the first time in a while, 'are you staying or going?'  
  
At this, Xavier let out a bit of derisive laughter. 'Of course she is staying.'  
  
Rogue completely ignored him. She kept her eyes on the girl standing in the shadows, where she had once been in sunlight. She spoke to her, without moving her lips, without anyone else knowing. She could see the Professors control still there, in her head, and she reached out with her mind to wash it away, causing the old man in the chair to put his hands to his head in pain.  
  
'You know he was controlling you Jean? The moment he can't control you, well I think you know what happens. You have to get away, if not now, then soon.' Rogue spoke to her softly in her head, opening the eye of Jeans mind as though she were waking up from a nightmare and finally seeing the harsh reality of daylight, that made you want to go back to sleep.  
  
She turned to her mentor, her Professor. 'You, you controlled me. You stopped me feeling guilt. You, you went into my head!' she sounded like she'd been told that her boyfriend was cheating on her.  
  
'Jean' Xavier pleaded, hoping to calm her down before all was lost, 'I did what I did for the best, you must see sense…'  
  
She didn't even give him a chance to finish, before she pushed her way past the group of people, and walked swiftly through the doors of the mansion, still looking a little bit dazed. Nobody knew if she'd gone to be alone, or to wait with the others who were leaving. It was clear however, that she was not going to be coming back to the mansion for some time. Xavier's favourite student had left him, just like that. And it was Rogue's fault. It always was.  
  
The Professor still held a pleading hand in the air, and kept it there a good few minutes after she'd gone, as though a part of him inside had suddenly stopped working. When he faced Rogue again, it was with an expression of anger that matched even hers. He ordered the other mutants left in the room to get out, and waited until the door had been shut by the last person, before taking full advantage of his fury.  
  
'You have just lost me some of the most promising students ever to walk through the doors of this institute. Do you even realised what you've done?' he asked, as though at this point they could still talk their way through the conflict.  
  
'They made their own choice. You shouldn't have got so hungry for control.' Rogue said, willing to go along with the pretence up until a certain point.  
  
Xavier broke it soon however, as he held up his hands to his head, and prepared for a battle he had been looking forward to ever since Rogue first drank his mixture. She could not regenerate from the effects of the poison that quickly. He could finally show her just how it was that he had maintained control in the past.  
  
He raised his hands a little again, giving her a grim, yet satisfied smile. Rogue caught his meaning, realised what he was going to do, and prepared herself for what was about to come.  
  
It was then that Charles Xavier unleashed the biggest psychic attack of his life, and focused it all on one person standing directly in front of him. The light that radiated from the mansion could be seen for miles around, and when it faded, it took minutes before you could see again.  
  
What you could see however, when vision was regained, was that standing alone, amongst charred remains of what had once been a hall, was Rogue, still the same as ever. How she had repelled the effects of the blast, Xavier would never know. She stepped forward, angrier now than she had been before.  
  
'You have no idea do you.' She said, her ice-cold voice sounding more threatening than the loudest shouting possible. 'You can't even grasp just how insignificant you now are.' She waved her hand, and Xavier was sent shooting upward, floating in mid air. She left him there for a few moments, before letting him fall back to earth, and striding over to him imperiously.  
  
'You think that you can suppress this much power with silly drinks? You don't see, that from the moment I put this around my neck.' She pointed to the brightly glowing charm that hung close to her skin, 'you were never ever going to be as powerful as me.'  
  
She walked away from him angrily, leaving him lying on the floor. 'You're not going to bother the people who just walked away from you. You're going to stay here, with those who have chosen to stay, and you're going to educate them on how to be good citizens, safe in the knowledge that any control you once thought of as your right is now long gone.' She looked at him one last time, a frail pile on the ashy floor.  
  
'Get up' she said, moving him with her mind, and throwing him into a standing position, fixing his crippled legs with one thought of her mind. She moved him over to his chair, and relinquished the healing power she had just used, causing him to fall in an undignified heap in his chair.  
  
'Remember what happened today. Remember what you lost. And never ever do anything to lost the trust of your students again.' She walked out the now broken door, not even once looking over her shoulders.  
  
In the empty room, Xavier contemplated what he had been taught by his pupil, and put his head in his hands, heaving and gasping with what once could only assume were his attempt at sobs.  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: Situation and Characters are property of Marvel and WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Argh!! Only one or two chapters left to go on this story. There's going to be a few loose ends and cliffhangers in the end, but hey, that's just a cheap ploy to make you all read the sequel! Seriously, you have all been wonderful readers and reviewers, and I've really enjoyed writing the story. Thank you!! Oh yeah, next chapter, or maybe the one after that, I promise you there'll be a scene with Rogue and Pietro, and hey, now that they've left, they can all live with the Brotherhood! Yay!! 


	17. In which some things are resolved

Chapter 17  
  
It took Lance quite a while to find Pietro. When he reached the end of his journey, it was to find his friend perched on a worn old wooden bench, staring at it as though looking over the end of the world. Lance approached him with only one thought in his head. What the hell is wrong with him?  
  
If Pietro noticed his presence, he took no notice of it. He merely sat there, waiting for a way in which his pain would come to an end, yet knowing all along that it would never do so.  
  
Lance didn't even bother to say hi. He just asked the question. 'What happened to you?'  
  
Pietro didn't answer right away. It was like it was taking him a few moments to come back down to Earth. When he did reply, it was to explain what had taken place over the last few days.  
  
'Summers and me, we made a deal to let Rogue choose who she wanted to be with. And the day before the funeral, she chose him.' he said, almost as though his detachment from the situation could make it somehow not true.  
  
Lance felt as though the world had been turned on its head all of a sudden. Rogue had chosen Scott over Pietro? Every fibre of his being told him that Rogue would rather die than give away the speed demons love. They were soul mates in every meaning of the word.  
  
He tried to voice this to his friend, who looked as though he was still coming to grips with what he had just said. 'That can't be true. It can't be.'  
  
Pietro responded with just as much conviction. 'It is. Jean was crying on the stair. She said Scott had gone to tell her he was in love with her, and so I went down to them. I saw them, they were kissing…. She must have said she loves him back.' His voice cracked on the final word, a window into the broken man inside of him. Because without Rogue, he was broken, incomplete, dead. And she probably didn't care.  
  
The thought was too depressing for Pietro. He let himself go completely, letting his resolve to remain composed flow out of him in tears of anguish. Lance did the only thing he could; he put an arm around the shoulders of the silver haired boy and let him cry. These were not childish tears, they were the hoarse sobs of a man who has been hurt so deeply it has released a pain that he never even dreamed was possible.  
  
The sobs subsided, and both boys were left with a drained afterward. Lance broke the contact, and looked directly into Pietro's face.  
  
'You're wrong, you must have seen wrong. If you love her, then fight for her. Do not let her go.'  
  
It was with these words that the two boys began to make their way back to the brotherhood house, and to a resolution that would keep Pietro feeling more anxious than he ever had before.  
  
  
  
The mutants waiting outside the mansion were feeling pretty anxious themselves at that point in time. They had seen a couple of flashes erupting from the building before them, and Kurt had to be held back to stop him going in to help his little sister.  
  
They had not been waiting long however, when Jean left the mansion, her face caught between bewildered wonder and the most awful betrayal. She looked at the faces of the people standing by the gate like she was trying to place them from a former life. She met Scott's eyes for a while, and the two former best friends took a few moments to search one another's souls, trying to discover just what had happened to the two of them over the last few months.  
  
'Jean, wait.' the voice belonged to Rogue, who had arrived by the gates of the mansion without attracting any attention from her friends. They all turned to look at her, the anger entirely gone from her face. Still, Jean looked at her with fright as the other girl glanced her over.  
  
'Why don't you come with us all?' Rogue asked softly. She wanted to work on forgiving the girl in front of her. She too had been lied to by some one she trusted, and they could probably work together to get over it.  
  
Jean was fidgeting like a gawky schoolgirl. 'Thanks, but, I just can't. Not now. I have to..To do some things.' She said, not really giving any of them an explanation for her decision. Scott watched her with a mixture of sorrow and acceptance for the messed up shell of a girl he once loved standing in front of them. He gave her a small smile, which she returned with a wave of her hand.  
  
She didn't even say another word to them, just walked off alone down the road as if it were leading her somewhere she'd never been before. Which, Rogue supposed it was. For the first time in her life, she dearly hoped she would see Jean Grey again someday down the line.  
  
  
  
The group moved onwards to the Brotherhood house, which Rogue explained, was the last stop before they headed on out of town. She wanted to give them all the chance to join them, to form a new group of mutants born from the strong bond between them all. Scott seemed slightly dubious about the bond bit, but Rouge silenced his protest with a meaningful raise of her eyebrow.  
  
She knocked once on the door to the run down old house. It was opened in a second by Fred, who took one look at Rogue, before throwing his arms around her and enveloping her in a crushing hug. Rogue began to make little squeaks of protest, which caused the Blob to reluctantly release her.  
  
He looked beyond her to see the other three X-men waiting behind her, their belongings floating beside them, and then he gestured for them all to come inside.  
  
Todd and Tabby were in the living room, trying to find out from a depressed Pietro and a preoccupied Lance just what was going on at the mansion. When they saw the entering party, the crowd fell silent, taking in the sight of the four X-men, and the stuff they had taken with them.  
  
'Well Kurt' Tabby said, a smile finally creeping back onto her face, 'When you said "I'll see you soon", I didn't think it would be this soon!'  
  
Kurt walked over with his bag, and pulled her close to him, grinning all the while, the tenderness in his embrace surprising everyone else in the room. Eyebrows raised, they looked to Rogue for an explanation.  
  
'We're not moving in with you guys,' she began, sending a little look of hurt and confusion into their eyes, which she immediately made to rectify. 'I mean, we want you to move in with us. All together, somewhere new. We're leaving town. The Professor, the institute, everything, and we want to know if you'll join us.' She said, phrasing the situation quite simply.  
  
Surprisingly, Todd was the first to show his support, piping up 'Nothing to stay for in this dump anyway!'  
  
Fred nodded his approval, and Rogue sent looks of gratitude towards her friends. Tabby was still too into Kurt to notice anything, but by the looks of things, she'd follow him anywhere.  
  
Rogue looked to Lance, who said clearly 'where my Kitty Kat and Rogue go, I follow.'  
  
This not only succeeded in making Kitty almost purr with delight, but also prompted Fred to add 'they've got you well trained haven't they Lancey Boy!'  
  
Lance was too pleased to snap back, but made a mental note to get his revenge on the Blob later, as everyone laughed at the comment.  
  
The only person yet to answer was Pietro. Rogue opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her. 'Don't bother' he said softly. The look on her face at these words alone was enough for him to elaborate.  
  
'I'm in' he finished.  
  
Kitty started jumping up and down at this point, and Lance moved in to calm her down. Knowing this could take some time; Rogue addressed the only problem she could see with her plan.  
  
'The only thing that slightly troubles me, is our lack of money. We have a lot of mouths to feed here.' She said it lightly, but there was a worried note in her voice.  
  
Mystique chose that time to enter, her authoritative voice cutting through the teenage chatter, and reminding everyone a little bit of her daughter.  
  
'I could help you with that.' she said, looking at nobody's face but Rogues. Mother and daughter spoke to each other for the first time since the revelation had been uncovered, and the world seemed to fade into nothing as they faced each other, Kurt moving closer to them all the time.  
  
'You gave me that diary.' Rogue said, both of them knowing it wasn't a question.  
  
Mystique nodded in acknowledgment, and Rogue seemed to be finding a way to phrase the words that threatened to tumble from her mouth.  
  
'Thank you' was the best she could come up with, but it was enough.  
  
'I'd like to come with you. I have quite a but of cash if you need it. I want to help, that is, if you'll let me.'  
  
Rogue didn't even consider before replying. 'Of course you can, I want you to.'  
  
Kurt chose this moment to step in, and make his claim on his family. 'We both want you to.' He said.  
  
Mystique wasn't quite sure whether she should cry or smile at this, both seemed appealing options. But as the three of them came back into the real world, she settled for a slight squeeze of their shoulders. Her babies.  
  
The world slipped back into focus as the contact was severed, and mother and children both looked slightly more complete than they did before.  
  
'All right!' Todd exclaimed, completely shattering the moment, 'Let's go pack!' he and the rest of the inhabitants of the household moved up the stairs, the X-men following. Rogue stood awkwardly at the bottom of the stair, and called softly after Pietro's disappearing back.  
  
'Pietro, could you wait a minute, I need to talk to you.' She said, as if afraid he would shoot her down. He sighed deeply, and waited as the others left to go and prepare for the journey.  
  
They were silent for a few moments, and Pietro was the one to break the ice. 'I suppose I should say congratulations, to you and Scott I mean…'  
  
'Pietro please' Rogue said, a hint of a plea in her strong voice. 'What you saw that day, it wasn't, I mean it isn't..'  
  
'I'm not angry,' he said, mistaking her meaning, 'I know it was your choice to make, and, and he's a good guy.'  
  
As Rogue was listening to him, her face cracking bit by bit, screaming at him from the inside, wanting him to fight so much.  
  
What she didn't know was that he was searching for exactly the same from her.  
  
'I mean,' Rogue said, 'that it really wasn't what it…'  
  
'Save it' he said, sounding slightly bitter, 'I can't really hear about this right now. I'll stay out of the way of you and Summers for a while from now on, it's OK'.  
  
At this, Rouge could take no more. For the second time in his life, Pietro found himself completely frozen, unable to move or protest, even if he wanted to.  
  
Rogue approached him, furious feelings burning in her eyes. 'You're not listening to a word I'm saying.' She saw him fighting to free himself from his restraints.  
  
'You're right, I like Scott.' She paused and took in the hurt in his eyes, before she drew on her strength and pushed forward, with one simple sentence. 'I love you.'  
  
This stopped him. He looked as though he'd been frozen in time, and Rogue took the opportunity to let pent up feelings free themselves from her lips.  
  
'Pietro, I have never loved anyone more. I love you so much, that when I see that I've hurt you, it hurts me too.' She took a shaky breath, focusing on his shocked eyes. 'And if I can't have you, then I don't want anybody else. Ever. If you don't want to hear that, then I guess I should let this go.' She finished, and with a stamina she never knew she possessed, she walked slowly out the door, swinging it shut behind her.  
  
One step she took, knowing that she'd made the right decision, that if he wouldn't fight for her, then how could he possibly love her like she loved him.  
  
Two steps, she realised she'd never kiss him again.  
  
Three steps, she let the realization dawn on her that she would never be with him, that all through her life she would never believe him.  
  
She collapsed before she took her fourth step, as the sky split open above and the rain attempted to wash away her tears. She felt something land beside her, and opened her eyes.  
  
Through the tears and the pain, she could see him, pressing his lips to hers, and then she lost all feeling. The rain pelted down as their lips met and their bodies melted into one. One shared soul.  
  
And when he released her, he looked deep into her, and he whispered softly to her 'I love you too. I can't even begin to think about living without you.'  
  
Foreheads pressed together, tears of joy and laughter mixing together with the rain, they held onto each other, making a silent promise to never ever let go.  
  
  
  
It took about two hours for the group to pack and load up the cars that would take them to wherever it was they were going. The storm had passed, and sunlight shone in through the windows of the now empty room.  
  
The group surveyed the echoing room, giving off so many feelings and memories, and each of them became lost in reflection. Scott looked towards Rogue and Pietro like a man who had realised he was looking at something as natural as the sun rising in the morning, a force he could never even hope to alter. He gave them both a small thumbs up, which earned respect from Pietro that would never fade.  
  
Kurt, his arm around Tabitha, felt fully aware of his completeness, the things he had gained, and stopped for a moment to say thank you. Tabby for her part, felt a rush a love for the person who had put the laughter back into her life, pulling her back from an abyss that could have swallowed her up.  
  
Fred and Todd looked back at the room that had been there home, and out at the landscape with hope for the promise of the future. Kitty and Lance, their arms around each other, smiled in contentment at each other, with Lance surveying his group with an almost fatherly pride. Mystique looked to her family with the air of one who was filling in the gaping holes of her life, and who would fight to keep what she had won back, to protect it.  
  
And Rogue and Pietro, lost in each other, in the pure fact that they now belonged to one another, wanted the moment to stretch over all eternity, whatever was to come their way.  
  
Finally, Scott opened the door, and they prepared to leave Bayville forever. Lance stopped at the door, a hint of uncertainty in his face.  
  
'You know, you have no idea what we are going to be facing out there.'  
  
Rogue looked at him with a certain, reassuring smile. 'Doesn't matter,' she said, 'We'll face it together.'  
  
Pietro squeezed her shoulder. 'Forever.' Was all he said. Lance nodded slowly.  
  
  
  
Many, many miles from there, Apocalypse had awakened.  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: Situation and Characters are property of Marvel and WB  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: FINISHED!!!! YAY!!!! Hehe, sorry bout the cliffy, but I should get round to doing the sequel soon!!! Review!! Thanx for reading!!! Wow, so excited that I've finished!!!!! 


End file.
